Photo: Nicklas Bendtner/Instagram
The world of European Association Football, also known as Soccer, is apparently just as eccentric as you would expect from a sport that pays its best players more than some prominent CEOs out there.
VfL Wolfsburg, none other than Volkwagen's own soccer team in the Bundesliga, has recently fined one of its players for... posting a photo of himself entering a Mercedes-Benz S-Class on his personal Instagram account.
Since Daimler makes rival vehicles to the Volkswagen Group, VfL Wolfsburg's head honchos thought it was inappropriate for striker Nicklas Bendtner to display a personal vehicle made by another company.
“We have our rules, one of those being that you must pay attention to how you are photographed in public,” Wolfsburg's director of sport Klaus Allofs told Sky Sports. “The rules are not new. It's misconduct and it's careless, which at the end of the day will cost [Bendtner] money,” he continued.
Formerly a striker for Arsenal, Bendtner is not at his first disagreement with the Volkswagen-owned soccer team, and his expiring two-year contract is not expected to be renewed at the end of the term later this year.
The 28-year-old suffered a similar marketing mishap back at Euro 2012 when he had to pay a fine of €100,000 (approximately $110,000) for displaying a pair of underwear branded with the name of a bookmaker during the match between Denmark and Portugal. It is possible that the money he received from said bookmaker more than made up for the colossal fine, though.
It is not known if Mercedes-Benz had anything to do with his recent Instagram misadventure, nor is the amount of money Bendtner will have to pay VfL Wolfsburg for posting the photo.
Since he is about to remain without a team when his contract expires anyway, maybe Mercedes-Benz could employ him as a brand ambassador. The prerequisites for such a decision are already there, so to speak.
Since Daimler makes rival vehicles to the Volkswagen Group, VfL Wolfsburg's head honchos thought it was inappropriate for striker Nicklas Bendtner to display a personal vehicle made by another company.
“We have our rules, one of those being that you must pay attention to how you are photographed in public,” Wolfsburg's director of sport Klaus Allofs told Sky Sports. “The rules are not new. It's misconduct and it's careless, which at the end of the day will cost [Bendtner] money,” he continued.
Formerly a striker for Arsenal, Bendtner is not at his first disagreement with the Volkswagen-owned soccer team, and his expiring two-year contract is not expected to be renewed at the end of the term later this year.
The 28-year-old suffered a similar marketing mishap back at Euro 2012 when he had to pay a fine of €100,000 (approximately $110,000) for displaying a pair of underwear branded with the name of a bookmaker during the match between Denmark and Portugal. It is possible that the money he received from said bookmaker more than made up for the colossal fine, though.
It is not known if Mercedes-Benz had anything to do with his recent Instagram misadventure, nor is the amount of money Bendtner will have to pay VfL Wolfsburg for posting the photo.
Since he is about to remain without a team when his contract expires anyway, maybe Mercedes-Benz could employ him as a brand ambassador. The prerequisites for such a decision are already there, so to speak.
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