Sometimes there is just too much happiness and sunshine surrounding soccer. You want to sell it to the kids, sure, but kids these days like their role models pale, sulky and disjointed. To reach that new target audience you need something a little bleaker. It worked for the Batman movies…

So how do you sell the EURO 2012 competition to a continent or country not involved? Say China? Well, those happy little scamps have set this dystopian gem of an advertisement for it to a pumping soundtrack by Cantopop singer Hacken Lee.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGzGeK3kLaw

Yes, you’re eyes are not deceiving you. Amidst snow, stormy skies and soldiers conducting a firefight a game of soccer is being played between the burning Coliseum ruins, Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower.

It is hard not to love this. It is so far removed from the event that it is funny, and the animated players are almost certainly Asian, but who cares? The tune is one you will find yourself humming, and you find yourself really hoping that a blazing overhead kick will end the violent war that somehow broke out in Europe when we weren’t looking.

There is no appearance from any superstar names from the game, which is refreshing. We will see enough Nike and Pepsi commercials in the build-up to the EUROs to know exactly who we are being told to look out for.

We know Robert Lewandowski will be the star for hosts Poland, we know Cristiano Ronaldo will be the face of the whole thing and we know that whoever scores the most goals will become immortalized.