JOIN USNicklas Bendtner paid a heavy price for his underpants.
The Denmark forward was banned for one 2014 World Cup qualifying match and UEFA also fined him USD 126,000 for revealing an unofficial sponsor's name on his underwear while celebrating a goal at the European Championship yesterday.
UEFA said its disciplinary panel found the 24-year-old Bendtner guilty of "improper conduct." The punishment rules him out of the Danes' opening World Cup qualifier, at home to the Czech Republic on September 8.
In comments to Denmark's TV2 News as the team returned to Copenhagen after exiting Euro 2012 on Sunday, Bendtner said he would "appeal the decision and take it from there."
The Danish football association has agreed to help the forward with legal advice, but it has also taken a dim view of the forward's stunt. The Danes have official ties to a rival gambling company and expressed its unhappiness to Bendtner in Poland last week. Bendtner has now been advised not to contact the gambling firm, association spokesman Lars Berendt said. He also was told "not to receive any kind of full or partial compensation or otherwise reimbursement from this company,"
Though Bendtner must file his appeal as an individual, Danish officials advised him to challenge the size of the penalty and will help him through the legal process. Bendtner's financial penalty is the second highest imposed by UEFA at Euro 2012. The Russian football association was fined USD 151,000 after its fans attacked stadium stewards in Wroclaw following the team's group game against the Czech Republic.
Bendtner raised his shirt and lowered the top of his shorts slightly, revealing the name of a betting firm across the top of his underpants, after scoring his second goal in a 3-2 loss against Portugal last Wednesday.
The laws of football managed by FIFA relating to players' equipment also state that players "must not reveal undergarments showing slogans or advertising."