It was the title of the e-mail — “Confidential Collaboration Opportunity” — that acquired the consideration of the sports activities author Neal Gardner when his inbox pinged final week from a sender he didn’t recognise.
The e-mail got here from a artistic promoting company and the proposal was a “potential collaboration” by which Gardner could be paid if he was prepared to act, in secret, as a social media influencer on behalf of Ousmane Dembele, the Paris Saint-Germain ahead.
“We are exploring a one-month campaign designed to spark dialogue and strengthen the narrative around Ousmane Dembele’s candidacy for the Ballon d’Or,” the e-mail defined.
“Specifically, we would like to propose three carefully crafted tweets per week over the course of a month that highlight his performances, impact and overall case for his recognition.
“Given your credibility and reach within the football community, your involvement would add meaningful weight to this conversation. At this stage, we’d like to request your quotations for this engagement.”
At house in Melbourne, Australia, Gardner might hardly imagine what he was studying. Was he actually being provided cash to push Dembele’s credentials as a worthy winner of the Ballon d’Or? And, in that case, who was behind it?
The e-mail landed in Gardner’s inbox at 5.54pm on Friday and, above all, it careworn the want for all the things to be saved high secret. “We ask that you treat this initiative with utmost confidentiality,” it defined. “Discretion is essential for its success.”
But Gardner had no intention of being half of such a campaign. Instead, he went on X to publish the e-mail — with the identify of the promoting company redacted — and clarify the sequence of occasions to his 169,000 followers. “I don’t know who’s funding this,” he wrote, “but I think it’s absolutely ridiculous and I had to raise awareness.”
Ok, right here goes…
I used to be just lately approached by a PR company to run a PAID campaign in favour of Dembele’s Ballon d’Or run.
I don’t know who’s funding this, however I believe it’s completely ridiculous and I had to increase consciousness. https://t.co/fRwSzCBZuf pic.twitter.com/JaOsUNj0KP
— Neal 🇦🇺 (@NealGardner_) September 12, 2025
Gardner, a contract author, went on to say that it had made him query what went on behind the scenes in the contest to be often known as the greatest footballer in the world. And, in a short time, his tweet went viral, with 3,700 reposts and 22,000 ‘likes’.
The Athletic went to examine, initially by contacting Dembele’s camp to ask whether or not they had any information of such a campaign. And the reply, emphatically, was no.
So, who was behind this proposal? It seems to have come from an organization referred to as Bangrr International, primarily based in India, whose web site describes itself as a “next-gen marketing, advertising, and content powerhouse, redefining ultra-luxury brand storytelling”.
The e-mail, despatched from the firm’s major account, had the identify of the founder, Ali Husain, at the backside. No one else’s identify was on it.
The firm’s rationalization, nonetheless, is that it was not, in reality, Husain who had written it however an unnamed 18-year-old intern who was appearing with out the information or authority of her bosses and had famous a earlier tweet from Gardner saying he was open to new work alternatives. And why did she take it upon herself to make such a proposal? Out of curiosity, it’s mentioned, to learn the way a lot a soccer author with a considerable social-media following may cost for such a campaign.
“The email was an unsolicited inquiry sent by a young intern at our agency,” mentioned Husain, in an announcement to The Athletic. “As a student passionate about football, advertising and digital content creation, the intern noticed Mr Gardner’s recent post discussing collaboration inquiries. This sparked an idea to conduct personal research into how influencers and journalists structure partnerships for brand promotions, specifically within the football industry.
“The intern saw this as a learning opportunity to understand a different segment of the digital landscape … (and) sent a speculative message to learn about standard industry rates. This was a singular initiative driven by educational curiosity, not a directive from our agency or a commissioned campaign for any third party.”
That leaves the follow-up query about why Gardner was recognized and the rationalization is that there have been two causes. First, as a result of Gardner has a big social media following, however primarily as a result of he’s a Barcelona fan who wouldn’t ordinarily be anticipated to be tweeting in help of a participant who had left the Nou Camp to be a part of PSG in 2023.
Confused? The logic was that Gardner’s pro-Dembele tweets would carry extra weight than these of a mean commentator. It was additionally half of the considering that he would give you the option to cost extra consequently of his Barca affiliation — and that, in flip, would assist to gauge what sort of cash could be wanted for different commentators to get on board.
Yamal can be in competition for the award (Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto by way of Getty Images)
As it turned out, Gardner replied to Bangrr to make it clear he had no intention of participating in any paid campaigns of this nature.
“It seemed so brazen and bold to send an email like that,” Gardner tells The Athletic. “I was just minding my own business when this email arrived – ‘Confidential Collaboration’ – and my first thought was, ‘What’s going on here?’.”
It is a strange sequence of occasions, particularly as Bangrr shouldn’t be a PR company and has no earlier expertise working with soccer golf equipment, footballers or their brokers.
It can be value noting that voting has already closed for the Ballon d’Or, with the winner to be introduced throughout an awards ceremony in Paris on September 22.
Dembele is the favorite to win after being named as the Champions League’s excellent participant throughout the most profitable season in PSG’s historical past. Lamine Yamal, of Barcelona, is thought to be his nearest challenger, adopted by Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, on a 30-man shortlist.
In this world of social media, nonetheless, it’s generally identified that PR and advertising and marketing/promoting companies work behind the scenes to create constructive debate about their purchasers — earlier than and after key occasions — and that, in lots of instances, confidentiality is vital. Many folks inside the business, for instance, suspect it occurred earlier than and through the Qatar World Cup.
In this case, nonetheless, Bangrr’s rationalization is that it was an harmless mistake. No cash was genuinely ever on offer, the firm states.
That it has gone viral has undoubtedly been a humiliation for the related folks. In the firm’s defence, nonetheless, no person else has come ahead to say they’ve additionally been approached.
“We sincerely apologise to Mr Gardner for any misunderstanding or inconvenience this personal initiative has caused,” Husain added. “We also extend our apologies to Ousmane Dembele and his representatives for any unintended involvement in this matter. It was never our intention — and certainly not the intern’s — to create a false narrative or imply any affiliation.
“This incident has highlighted a need for us to improve our internal guidance and oversight. We are taking steps to ensure all team members understand professional communication protocols. We hope this explanation provides the necessary clarity and resolves this misunderstanding.”
(Top picture: Kristian Skeie/UEFA by way of Getty Images)