Men in Pink! Brothels help rescue cash-strapped Greek soccer team

Players on a cash-strapped Greek soccer team now wear pink practice jerseys with the logos “Villa Erotica” and “Soula’s House of History,” two bordellos it recruited as sponsors after drastic government spending cuts left the country’s sports clubs facing ruin.

But the amateur Voukefalas club whose players include pizza delivery guys, students, waiters and a bartender has raised eyebrows with its flamboyant sponsorship choice.

“Unfortunately, amateur football has been abandoned by almost everyone,” said Yiannis Batziolas, the club’s youthful chairman, who runs a travel agency and is the team’s backup goalkeeper.

League organizers have banned the pink jerseys during games, saying the deal violates “the sporting ideal” and is inappropriate for underage fans.

As Greece heads toward a sixth year of recession, drastic budget cuts have hammered many ordinary people: Retirees have been left to cover their own medical expenses, children have lost school bus services, and sports teams have scrambled to find sponsors as businesses close under the burden of emergency taxes.

Brothel owner Soula Alevridou, the team’s new benefactor, has already paid more than 1,000 euros ($1,312) for players to wear her jerseys.

The team is appealing the game ban, but that doesn’t worry the 67-year-old Alevridou, who says she’s only in it because she loves soccer.

Alevridou watched in disappointment as her team lost its fourth straight game, 1-0, despite her promise to players of “a special time” at her businesses if they won.

Government cuts have hurt most of the teams in the amateur league in Larissa the majestically named Olympus, Hercules, Fearless and Sagittarius clubs, as well as Voukefalas, named after Alexander the Great’s horse.