KHARKIV, UKRAINE - Soccer officials have their shorts in a knot because Nicklas Bendtner lowered his.

Bendtner is in hot water with both UEFA and the Danish Football Association for lifting his shirt and slightly dropping his drawers after scoring Wednesday in Denmark's 3-2 loss to Portugal.

Bendtner's motivation quickly became apparent as the spectators in Lviv and millions of television viewers saw the name of an Irish betting firm across the top of his underwear.

Talk about an imaginative advertising campaign.

Denmark's soccer governing body didn't see it that way, pointing out that Bendtner had violated UEFA's rules, which ban any sponsorship promotions on a player's uniform. His public display also irked a British gambling company, Ladbrokes, which happens to be one of the official sponsors of the Danish team.

Not long after Bendtner lowered the, ah, boom, the Irish betting firm tweeted a photo of the ad on the Dane's briefs.

Bendtner Thursday rejected suggestions that the act was a publicity stunt, claiming he was just celebrating "like I normally do."

"But it was not a conscious thing on my part," he said. "It was simply some underwear that give a little luck. I also wore them in the first match and have worn them before."

He won't be wearing them Sunday in Denmark's final Group B game against Germany. Team officials will see to that.

"Of course, I can see it's a bit unfortunate," he said. "But there is no agreement or anything like that. It was just for myself."

What are the odds you won't see him doing that ever again?

UEFA was looking into the incident but had not taken any action by the time the Danish team took to the pitch for practice Thursday.

mike.zeisberger@sunmedia.ca

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