Inside story of Nicklas Bendtner and the infamous £80k Paddy Power pants
Don’t wait around for updates – sign up for our daily football email newsletter today!
Nicklas Bendtner, Paddy Power pants and an £80k fine – all in the midst of a major international tournament.
That might seem like the answers to three separate questions on a televised sports quiz show, but there's a fairly good chance that if you Google any of the above words you will be redirected to an infamous moment from Euro 2012 – staggeringly nine years ago now.
The ex-Arsenal and Denmark striker, who retired at the end of last season, was certainly no stranger to headlines throughout the course of his playing career.
Only more often than not, they were for his trademark antics rather than footballing ability.
On this occasion, you could argue it was for both. After his nation went 2-0 down against Portugal through goals from Pepe and Helder Postiga, it was 'Lord Bendtner' himself that dragged Denmark back into the contest, scoring twice before the real drama unfolded.
Indeed, after netting a vital equaliser, the often controversial but talented Dane lifted up his shirt and lowered his shorts to show off a dazzling pair of 'lucky' bright green boxer shorts, emblazoned with the Irish bookmaker Paddy Power's logo.
Portugal went on to nick it 3-2. Cue the storm…
Speaking at the time, Bendtner said: "It is just a pair of lucky boxer shorts that I used in the first game as well and have used before the tournament. I didn't know I was breaking any rules, but I am aware of that now."
Only UEFA failed to see it that way.
At the time, this was largely seen as a light-hearted advertising gaffe, with reaction on social media predominately sitting on the side of humour rather than offence that had allegedly been caused – though Bendtner was thrown in the dock by the governing body and he had to pay a staggering £80,000 fine for his part in the marketing campaign.
Embarrassingly for UEFA, it was around £15,000 more than the Croatian FA were sanctioned after a banner which appeared to racially abuse ex-Italy striker Mario Balotelli was displayed by supporters during a clash between those two nations.
A statement from Paddy Power, which suggested they were only having a bit of fun, read: "We are appalled with the severity of Nicklas Bendtner's fine for displaying Paddy Power on the waistband of his lucky underpants.
What's your favourite moment from previous Euros? Let us know in the comments section below.
"This is a hysterical and deeply cynical move by UEFA, dictated by pure commercialism, and is a far greater penalty than recent UEFA fans for far more serious incidents. We will be contacting Mr Bendtner to offer our full support in his appeal."
In a separate statement, Paddy Power continued: "We pride ourselves on listening to our customers and what we heard loud and clear was that Nicklas Bendtner should not suffer as a result of UEFA's double standards – we don't believe that Nicklas should be penalised for nothing more serious than wearing lucky underpants, which in fairness was only a bit of fun."
In fairness to Bendtner, as well, regardless of his motives behind this incident it was one of the lighter antics that littered his once promising career.
Interestingly enough, though, the Dane has rarely spoken about it since then – despite being no stranger to public comments and releasing a 'no holds barred' autobiography last year.
- Arsenal FC
- Football Wire
- Euro 2020
Source: Read Full Article