Ad Gimmick Gives DFB a Pain in the Shorts

While sitting over drinks one day at their favorite bar, Jürgen Scholz, the chairman of the down-at-heel amateur Bundesliga team Arminia Hanover, and a friend were discussing ways of turning around the financial fortunes of the floundering club. Scholz complained to his friend, a boutique owner, that the cupboard was very nearly bare and that the team was in dire need of some new sources of income.

Spotting an entrepreneurial opportunity, Scholz's pal suggested that his range of locally patriotic slogan wear -- casual fashion items bearing the standard 'Kanzlerstadt', a reference to Hanover as Gerhard Schröder's home base -- could prove a suitable sponsor. However, thanks in part to the inspiring brew on tap; the decision was also made to carry the new sponsor not on the team shirts but on their shorts…on the back.

This meeting of great minds and strong beer resulted in Arminia Hanover taking to the field at the start of the 2003/04 season with the word 'Kanzlerstadt' displayed across the bottoms of the starting 11. (The logo was also on the backsides of the substitutes but as they were warming the bench at the time, it wasn't as provocative). However, German soccer was not ready for such an innovative advertising deal and so the German Soccer Federation (DFB) gave the deal the bum rush, taking the club to court.

DFB says 'no butts'

In the statute of German soccer rules, advertising can only be displayed on the shirts and only on the chest region and arms. As the 'Kanzlerstadt' logo was being displayed some way further south and towards the back, Arminia Hanover were hit by a series of 300 euro fines by the legal arm of the Lower Saxony soccer association. This did nothing to dissuade Scholz that he was doing anything wrong and he vowed to advertise in any way he saw fit.

Now the case has resurfaced due to Scholz's desire to get his teams bottoms out in front. The Arminia Hanover chairman is suing the DFB in the district court in Frankfurt in a bid to overturn the statute book on the positioning of advertising.

Euro rivals proudly display their sponsors

It seems that the DFB may be in danger of getting their shorts in a twist over the case. Many professional teams have hinted that a changing of the rules would be welcomed, allowing more revenue into clubs through advertising below the belt line.

Clubs in France, Belgium and Spain have already experimented with advertising in places other than on the front and arms of shirts while players in Austria often turn out looking more like walking billboards than soccer stars.

In July 2003, FIFA, world soccer's governing body, ruled that it would make official an unwritten agreement that advertising could be placed in places on a soccer uniform other than on the shirt front or arms. This, if applied to the Frankfurt case, may catch the DFB with its pants down.

Court case could pave way for bottom logos

While associations can make their own regulations on such things, it seems strange to Jürgen Scholz that the DFB continues to maintain its 'no butt adverts' hard line. "Tomorrow they could rule out long hair or white soccer boots," Scholz laments. "Why does bottom advertising provoke the DFB so much and not the Austrian or Spanish?"

Since beginning his legal struggle to release bottoms from their DFB-enforced constraints, the 'Kanzlerstadt' logo has been removed from the shorts of Arminia Hanover. If the DFB regulation is overturned, the bums of Hanover will once again display a sponsor -- but it may not be the 'Kanzlerstadt' logo.

Scholz is looking for a sponsor who could inject about 15,000 euros per season into the club. Anything less may not help the ailing club after a costly case. An advertising campaign worth plenty of zeroes would be the bottom line.