This story is sponsored by Paddy PowerPaddy Power is to pay the €100,000 fine incurred by Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner for displaying its “lucky pants” during his Euro 2012 goal celebrations last week.
UEFA yesterday handed out the fine along with a one-match ban to Bendtner after he lowered his shorts after his equalising goal against Portugual in Lviv, Ukraine last Wednesday to reveal “lucky underpants” featuring the brand of the Irish bookmaker, in contravention of its rules covering players’ equipment.
The bookmaker today said it would be paying the fine on behalf of Arsenal striker Bendtner, whose team were knocked out of the tournament in the group stages after they were beaten 2-1 by Germany in Ukraine on Sunday.
Paddy Power’s recently appointed head of mischief, Ken Robertson, explained why the company had decided to foot the bill for the “mind-boggingly severe” fine: “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.”
The bookmaker also published a list of the lesser fines handed out by UEFA for arguably far more serious misdemeanours, such as the €20,000 fine issued to Porto in April for racist chants by its fans aimed at Italy and Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli.
Paddy Power said this afternoon it would be posting 3,000 pairs of the lucky pants to people who requested a pair via its Facebook page. “Wear them in solidarity with Nicklas”, the bookmaker said on Twitter.
The London-listed betting giant also announced the appointment of two senior executives today. William Reeve, the co-founder of home video and game rental business LOVEFiLM, will start in the newly created role of head of operations on 5 September, charged with oversight for technology, risk & trading and corporate strategy, previously the responsibility of Paddy Power’s highly rated former chief operating officer Breon Corcoran, who starts as Betfair CEO in August.
Paddy Power CEO Patrick Kennedy said: “William will bring deep online operations experience, along with great strategic thinking to the Group.”
Fin Goulding, former CTO of online travel and tickets business Lastminute.com has also been appointed chief information officer, leading the technology functions for Paddy Power in the UK, Ireland and Italy.
