Paddy Power backs David Ginola FIFA presidency push
Irish bookmaker's latest stunt sees it supporting campaign to have former footballer Ginola replace Sepp Blatter as FIFA president
Paddy Power has hit the headlines in the UK press this morning with an ambitious campaign to have former footballer David Ginola replace Sepp Blatter as the president of football world governing body FIFA.
The ‘Team Ginola – Rebooting Football’ campaign was launched at a press conference in London this morning, along with a teamginola.com website and #TeamGinola Twitter handle.
The campaign has been created by creative agency M&C Saatchi, which is also among the candidates to take over Paddy’s creative advertising account from Crispin Porter & Bogusky later this year.
In a bid to fund Ginola’s campaign for presidency, punters are being asked to help raise £2.3m by pledging their support from £5 up to £40,000, with the Irish bookmaker covering Ginola’s £250,000 fee for taking part in the campaign.
A Paddy Power spokesman said it was “calling on fans globally” to “mobilise and join Team Ginola”.
However, former Newcastle, Tottenham and French midfielder Ginola will first need the backing of five of the 208 Football Associations around the world by 29 January in order to be an eligible candidate in the May election.
Paddy Power is notorious for its controversial PR campaigns. Last year the firm opened a book on murder trial of sprinter Oscar Pistorius while in 2012 footballer Nicklas Bendtner was fined €80,000 after he exposed a pair of Paddy Power-branded boxer shorts during the European Championships.