Why the Football Not?

After a huge World Cup this summer, Paddy Power is getting audiences excited for the incoming football season with the launch of its brand new football-focused brand platform, 'Why The Football Not?' created by BBH London.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, the platform celebrates the sheer unadulterated absurdity of British football fandom. It focuses on the weird and wonderful experiences and behaviours that make the game great, to get fans asking, "Why the football not?"

The hero film stars national treasure Danny Dyer, who has now been the star of several PP campaigns, and former England striker Peter Crouch both answering and asking a series of questions, to which there can only ever be one real answer.

When asked by a naysayer in the pub, 'why do you even care?' about football, Danny gets thinking…

What follows is a whirlwind tour through some of the beautiful game's most baffling behaviours, as he contemplates the 'why'. From over-the-top matchday fancy dress to ick-inducing bedrooms obsessively decorated in club colours and a new father proudly celebrating the birth of his baby daughter, Jurgen. In a typically hilarious cameo, Peter Crouch asks a suspicious onlooker why he's filming another team's training session, in a cheeky nod to a former club's Spygate scandal.

The only real answer to the clueless bystander's question? "Why the football not?"

Leah Spears, Marketing Director at Paddy Power said: "From Spygate to Danny Murphy's cat Bob being a breakout star of the World Cup, we live and breathe football at Paddy Power. So, after the longest season ever, the biggest World Cup of all-time and another England heartbreak, some people might wonder why we're going again. English football is the greatest game on Earth, so we say, why the football not?"

Paddy Power ambassador Danny Dyer said: "Football's a funny old game, and us fans can be a strange bunch. One minute you're absolutely losing your head, saying you're done with it, the next you're hugging your mates and kissing some random bald geezer right on his dome. It doesn't make any sense, but that's why we love it."

Peter Crouch added: "Football fans are great because we're all a little bit ridiculous, in the best possible way. That's usually where the magic comes from and leads to all those silly moments on and off the pitch. You don't really need a good reason to care; you just love it anyway."

Packed with viral memes, football in-jokes and Easter eggs for eagle-eyed fans, the campaign follows Paddy Power's huge World Cup activity this summer and is designed to get fans fired up for the new 2026/27 season, kicking off on 21st August.

The film was shot at Brentford FC stadium and directed by Max Barden via Anonymous, who also directed the World Cup spot for Paddy Power starring Rob Lowe alongside Dyer.

The campaign will launch on 19th August across the UK and Republic of Ireland for at least the next nine months. Media was handled by EssenceMediacom.