Carrots for Croats: tycoon offers Merc for sinking England

20 November, 2007, 09:30

The owner of Spartak Moscow football club, Leonid Fedun, is offering Croatia's footballers luxury cars if they beat England in a crucial Euro 2008 qualifier on Wednesday.

The oil baron says he'll give away four Mercedes motors if Croatia manages to get an away victory in England.

One of the cars will go to goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa, who plays for his club Spartak Moscow. The other three motors will be handed to the three best Croatian players on the night.

If England are defeated on Wednesday, Russia will stand a chance of qualifying for Euro-2008. They'll need to beat Andorra to book their tickets to the finals.

A similar offer was made from an Israeli-based Englishman to the scorer of Israel's winning goal on Saturday.

But it was turned down by striker Omer Golan and the Israeli Football Association.