Cash-strapped Brazilian football team use shirt numbers to advertise special offers at the local supermarket

Brasileiro Série D side Fluminense de Feira have found a novel way to raise some money

A Fluminense player displaying the price of a bottle of shampoo

(Twitter @dacebal)

Brazilian fourth-tier side Fluminense de Feira have taken shirt sponsorship to a whole new level.

Not content with simply featuring sponsor’s logos on their shorts as well as their shirts, the Brasileiro Série D side have started using their shirt numbers to advertise special offers in the local supermarket.

Players now have a product written where their name would usually be printed on the back of their shirts, with conventional numbers replaced with the prices of bargain deals.

So their star striker Fernando Sobral, for example, no longer wars the number 10. Instead he is 10,98 – which is coincidentally the price of a pizza at the local superstore.

Another player wears 20,38 to advertise the cost of shaving cream, while a team-mates shirt displays the price of a bottle of shampoo.

Fluminense play at the 16,274 capacity Estádio Joia da Princesa

By way of explanation the team’s marketing director, Xiko Melo, said the move was made necessary because the Brazilian Football Confederation does little to support football clubs further down the league pyramid.

“Football is very ungrateful to small teams on this sponsorship issue,” he told local media. “You cannot put together a good team without conditions and having a good team requires resources.

“We had a few sponsors in the beginning, so we decided to have sponsors per game.”

However the shirts haven’t exactly helped matters on the pitch.

Fluminense de Feira lost their first match wearing their new shirts 6-0, to bitter local rivals Vitoria de Bahia.