Paddy Power to pay Nicklas Bendtner's £80,000 underpants fine
Bookmaker Paddy Power is to pay the £80,000 fine handed to Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner for ambush marketing.
Bendtner's offending pants
Bendtner was slapped with the fine by UEFA after pulling down his shorts to reveal Paddy Power-branded underpants following his goal against Portugal last week.
Though the forward claims he was not part of an ambush marketing stunt, UEFA stipulates that players must not wear any branded clothing other than their football kits during matches.
Publicity-loving Paddy Power has decided to pay Bendtner's fine on his behalf after being 'inundated' with messages on social media saying they should pick up the bill.
A spokesperson from Paddy Power said “We pride ourselves on listening to our customers and what we heard loud and clear yesterday 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 his lucky underpants which in fairness was only a bit of fun."
In a statement Paddy Power urged other players intending to wear their own lucky underpants in the remaining fixtures "to keep the string tied tightly on their shorts so that they too don’t face the wrath of the over the top UEFA pants police".