Scoring hat tricks has not helped Brazilian star Paulinho from getting an earful from Chinese football authorities after photos of him promoting a betting company with a Japanese porn star surfaced in the internet.
Last week, CalvinAyre.com reported that the former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder has been left red-faced over his involvement in a gambling advertisement. The promotional photos showed Paulinho wearing a T-shirt bearing the logo of LeTou with Tsukasa Aoi, one of the biggest adult movie stars in Asia.
Sources familiar with the matter told CalvinAyre.com that the 28-year-old football player agreed to endorse LeTou, a betting company based in Southeast Asia that targets punters in China.
Gambling and pornography are banned in China, where Paulinho now plays for the Chinese Super League Club Guangzhou Evergrande. And Paulinho’s involvement in the LeTou advertisement was, of course, enough to raise the Chinese football authorities’ hackles.
The Chinese Football Association (CFA) released a statement over the weekend, warning the Brazilian midfielder to end his involvement with the gambling company while also urging players in the Chinese Super League to “cherish their own image.”
“It is an offense to engage in pornography and gambling in our country. Every Chinese citizen and foreigner in China shall abide by the law,” the CFA said in a statement. “In addition, it is against the conscientiousness of a professional player to be involved in any betting business. We hope professional players can respect and comply with the regulations, and respect their own career.”
Professional football leagues around the world ban their players from betting on any football match, and the Chinese Super League, in particular, has a zero tolerance policy towards unsporting incidents.
CFA said promoting LeTou was “the player’s own decision,” noting that Paulinho “has not reported it to his club.”
“The Guangzhou Evergrande club has criticized Paulinho and asked him to stop the commercial activities with the betting company immediately in order to put an end to any similar activities in the future,” the association said.
Paulinho joined Evergrande from Tottenham in 2015, and won the Asian Champions League in his first year with the club. He was one of three China-based players in Tite’s squad as Brazil tightened their grip on top spot in South America’s qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Paulinho recently scored a hat trick for Brazil’s 4-1 World Cup qualifying win against Uruguay.
