The “lucky pants” displayed by Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner during a European Championship match turned out to be not so lucky, and rather expensive. UEFAhas suspended him for one match — Denmark’s next World Cup 2014 qualifier — and imposed a fine of $126,000 for flashing the sponsored waistband of his underpants while celebrating a goal in a 3-2loss to Portugal Wednesday. He has three days from the written receipt of the sanction to appeal.
UEFA last week announced disciplinary proceedings against the player for “improperconduct (Law 4 of the Laws of the Game)” during the Group B game. Law 4 states: “Players must not reveal undershirts which contain slogans or advertising. A player removing his jersey to revealslogans will be sanctioned by the competition organiser.” Article 18.18 of the “Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship 2010-12” also states: “All kit items worn during the finaltournament must be free of any sponsor advertising.”
The waistband of Bendtner’s green and white underwear had the name of a Dublin-based online betting firm, Paddy Power, which said onits Web site that they were “lucky pants.”
Paddy Power released a statement on its Web site that read, in part, “We are appalled with the severity of Nicklas Bendtner’s fine fordisplaying Paddy Power on the waistband of his lucky underpants recently. This is a hysterical and deeply cynical move by UEFA dictated by pure commercialism and is a far greater penalty than recentUEFA fines for far more serious incidents. We will be contacting Mr Bendtner to offer him our full support for his appeal.”