London, Aug 02: Manchester United and the English Football Association were among 10 businesses handed a massive 18.6 million pound (26.6 million euro, 29.9 million dollar) fine yesterday for fixing the price of replica football shirts.
Premiership club Manchester United were hit with a fine of 1.6 million pounds and the FA, the English game's governing body, will have to pay 150,000 pounds, British business watchdog the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said.
The biggest penalty was an 8.4 million pound penalty handed out to retail chain JJB Sports, with sporting goods manufacturer Umbro fined 6.6 million. The other six firms were all retailers.
The OFT found that replica shirts for the England national side, Manchester United and other teams including Chelsea and Celtic were fixed at artificially high prices -- around 40 pounds for an adult top and 30 pounds for junior versions.

These illegal deals applied during key sales periods, such as when a new replica kit was launched, and during the Euro 2000 Football Championships, the OFT found.



"The fines imposed reflect the seriousness of the price fixing in this case," said OFT chairman John Vickers. "Since we launched our investigation the prices of replica football shirts have fallen and consumers can now shop around and get a better price."


Bureau Report