Hilarious World Football Promotions to Get Fans to Matches

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For a football club to succeed, they have to draw mass amounts of the very thing for which all footballers ultimately play in the first place: fans.

In particularly slow periods of a club’s history, crowds can be sometimes hard to come by and teams therefore attempt to employ promotional strategies both obscure and otherwise.

Whether they worked or not, these are some of the better marketing campaigns that clubs have used in order to get punters through the doors.

Crystal Palace “Call Me Maybe” Cheerleaders

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Shot on location at Selhurst Park, the Crystal Palace cheerleaders kept club intentions and Eagles success as a priority during their cover of Carly Rae Jespen’s smash hit, "Call Me Maybe."

Donned in little more than their bikini outfits, The Crystals attract one very specific audience to come watch Palace in the 2013-13 season, and you can probably guess what that audience was.

The video was recorded in order to help shift season tickets in the London club, and regardless of whether or not much money was made from the venture, any neutral will consider the video a marketing success. Or at least any male neutrals.

Budweiser Premier League Twist

Soccer at its finest

To some English football fans, the word “soccer” is like nails on a chalkboard and the quite plainly sarcastic Budweiser advertisements that came about in 2009 were comedy gold.

The American-style lager put their own spin on the sport after entering into a partnership with the Premier League in order to attract the gaze towards the English top flight.

Halftime multi-ball may not be a policy that’s adapted into any facet of world football anytime soon, but the suggestion is made in such a way that it simply can’t be left out of this list.

Venkys Chicken

The Venkys Influence

The Venkys ownership of Blackburn Rovers has been a tumultuous ride for the Lancashire club, and the players’ promotion of their chicken went down with a squawk.

At the time of the promotional campaign, Blackburn’s form was already beginning to slump and the club lost yet more dignity with this ridiculous set of advertisements.

If you look at David Dunn’s face as he bites into a drumstick, you can actually see the last shred of sanity subtly leave his very being.

Why did the chicken cross the road? To make sure he was as far away from this marketing ploy as possible.

Being: Liverpool

Being: Liverpool

While not strictly hilarious as such, the chronicling of Brendan Rodgers’ first preseason in charge at Anfield has provided its fair share of laughs since airing on our televisions in September.

The fly-on-the-wall documentary series provides insight into the club’s recent struggles and is undoubtedly commissioned to acquire more fans on a global level, given the American ownership of the club.

Aired on FOX Soccer in the USA and Channel 5 in the UK, Being: Liverpool has been a refreshing look at a top Premier League side, but hasn’t been met with the most encouraging of reactions by all, a negative voice on the matter being Mark Lawrenson (via Daily Mail).

Zombie Lesbians and Sperm Donors

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No, that isn’t a film you can find in the bargain bin at your local DVD store, these are two genuine advertisement campaigns launched by La Liga club, Getafe.

In order to get supporters’ rears back in their seats, the Spaniards turned to comedy to attract attention, and it turns out that laughter is indeed the best medicine.

If you haven’t watched it already, here’s the link to the two advertisements.

Warning: This video is rated R and should be viewed with extreme discretion. Contains minor nudity.

Getafe’s Koalas

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Yes, Getafe created more than just two hilarious promotional videos. In fact, the humorous club amassed four of these nuggets of comedy gold, although I’ll only be showcasing three.

After lesbian zombies and the idea of club support sperm donors is said and done, what other way is there but down? That is of course unless you make a two-minute video about suicidal koalas to get your club the fandom it needs.

Don’t speak Spanish? Don’t worry, me either. Link can be found here.

Club Brugge Party Rocking

Keep on Party Rocking

In terms of song renditions, beating the Crystal Palace cheerleaders in their cover of "Call Me Maybe" would be quite some feat, but the Club Brugge playing and managerial staff pull it off.

What the Belgians lack in money, they make up for in the global currency of banter and the display of players jumping on sofas and shaking their rumps to LMFAO’s “Party Rock” is sensational viewing.

Personally, the sight of a Club Brugge moustached official telling viewers to “shake that” just makes me crack up and this didn’t draw spectators to the club’s gates, I just don’t know what will.