Marketing Own Goal by Fifa?

Despite this, the bosses behind providing thirty-six women with (subtly-branded) skimpy tangerine dresses must be smiling wryly as their brand,which is seemingly unheard of outside of the watering holes of Rotterdam and Den Haag is splashed all over the world's press and between the internets for the cost of what's likely to be a managable fine.

Had Fifa not reacted in their dictatorial manner, the ambush-marketing stunt – which Bavaria similarly got busted for in 2006 would have passed without comment, received little or no coverage and kept the World Cup's official beer Budweiser perfectly happy.

Now Fifa obviously have a right to protect their sponsor's interests – there's a lot of money at stake, however the World Cup organisers in their attempt to protect their corporate sponsors by screaming "Look! Look at this marketing stunt which we didn't want to happen at our tournament! Just LOOK! And by the way, the beer's called BAVARIA!" have by their very actions become an unwitting PR machine for the naughty Dutch upstarts as their brand name gets column inches and free publicity by the bucketload.

Bavaria 1-0 Fifa it may seem...Proost!