BBC SPORT | Euro 2008 blog

Polish papers upset Germany

Phil Gordos
5 Jun 08, 07:24 PM

Vienna

Two diplomatic incidents to report with the big kick-off in Basel less than 48 hours away now.

The first concerns two Polish tabloids, who have upset the Germans ahead of Sunday's Group B clash between the two nations in Klagenfurt.

One has mocked up a distasteful shot of Poland coach Leo Beenhakker holding the severed heads of Germany coach Joachim Loew and skipper Michael Ballack.

The second has Beenhakker dressed up as sword-wielding warrior about to a deliver a death blow to the Chelsea midfielder.

Dutchman Beenhakker is naturally appalled and the images have inevitably provoked outrage in both countries, ramping up the tension ahead of the match.

The second controversy is a much less serious.

This time it is the Turks who have been offended, unhappy with Sebastiano Barcaroli. The Italian is one of 38 illustrators to have contributed to a book called Football Heroes See Red, containing more than 800 images of players who have performed at the European Championship.

There are some from 1960 - the date of the first tournament - and lots from Euro 2008. I think they're fabulous, particularly those of former French genius Zinedine Zidane, but the ones of the Turkey squad have not gone down well.

This is the gap left when the offending poster was removed

Apparently, it has something to do with the fact that Barcaroli has drawn the players' hair, eyebrows, ears, noses and mouths using images of insects, fish, etc.

Anyway, the Turkish camp have objected, prompting one promotional poster here at the International Broadcast Centre here in Vienna to be stripped from the wall.

It's a shame, but then as someone once said - can anyone tell me who? - all publicity is good publicity.

Phil Gordos is a senior broadcast journalist at BBC Sport Interactive. Please check our FAQs if you have any questions.

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Comments

1. At 8:30pm on 05 Jun 2008, emjaylambert wrote:
I've spent half an hour happily browsing through Footballers See Red, they're awesome - thoroughly recommended.

Are they in a book somewhere that I could buy? Coz some pf the writing and detail was too small to see on a PC screen. (in fact, my head hurts now, thanks a bunch Gordos...)

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2. At 10:11pm on 05 Jun 2008, kjell_suit SOFBTRC wrote:
outstanding artwork in footballers see red. the best designed panini football sticker album I've ever seen ;D

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3. At 07:53am on 06 Jun 2008, Phil-in-Vienna wrote:
Glad you like the book, emjaylambert and kjell_suit. There's a copy here in the IBC, so I've had a look at most of the images. They really are brilliant. Love to have some of the artwork on my walls back home, though the wife might not be happy. There are two exhibitions currently running in and around Zurich - probably not much help to you - but I'm sure you can order your own copy through the site. (Hope I haven't breached some BBC code by acting as a salesman here.) But I may be able to get some of the images onto my blog at some point. I'm hoping to have a proper chat with the editor in the next few days. By the way, some of the illustrators are from the UK with there very own websites. I'll try to get some more info.

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4. At 09:02am on 06 Jun 2008, fair teh middlin' wrote:
Cool book.

LOL @ England 2008.

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5. At 09:24am on 06 Jun 2008, Phil-in-Vienna wrote:
By the way, that should have been 'their very own websites' in the penultimate sentence. Mark me down for that schoolboy error.

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6. At 7:08pm on 06 Jun 2008, borgduck wrote:
LOL @ Scotland 2008!!!!!

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7. At 11:20pm on 07 Jun 2008, illophile wrote:
It is a great book. I bought my copy off one of the English illustrators (beachy.co.uk) but there are 7 or 8 from the UK in the book I think

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