Dutch side FC Emmen have taken sexy football to a new level – after being sponsored by Holland's biggest adult toy company.
The tiny Eredivisie club will unveil their new shirt sponsor Easy Toys when they play Willem II today – with officials from the KVNB , the Dutch football Federation, less than amused after failing in a legal bid to block the deal.
Even in liberal Holland, the KVNB claimed the sex toy sponsor went against Dutch football's code of values.
But FC Emmen chairman Ronald Lubbers, waggishly nicknamed Ronald Rubbers by the club's chuckling fans, is unrepentant – and says the club can't keep pace with demands for the new shirts in the club shop.
“We are getting really excited. This sponsor is important for the club. We have to keep printing the new shirts to make sure everyone can get one before this Sunday’s match” says Lubbers.
The club, who launched the deal with a blow-up pair of ladies legs protruding from the stadium's main entrance, are even getting orders for FC Emmen shirts from English football fans too.
Spokesman Marco Timmer says: “We are stunned by the demand. Fans from our opponents in the Eredivisie are ordering the shirts, but so are English fans.
“They are contacting us and saying that they are really keen on the shirt.’’
Easy Toys has more products – 14,000 - than FC Emmen has season ticket holders.
But FC Emmen boss Dick Lukkien, Virgil van Dyke's first manager in football, is only interested in the on-field effects - and is hoping the boost in media attention rubs off on his stars.
