Festive Foul-Up

But what if your true love is a soccer club and on the first day of Christmas it gives you the mocking grin of a fierce rival? Would you still be so graceful in receiving this gift? Or would you be looking for a largely flightless bird to stick where the Christmas sun don't shine?

This was the dilemma facing a supporter of German soccer club Schalke 04 recently. Passionate Schalke fan Tobias Meier joyfully opened the first door of his treasured club advent calendar expecting a chocolate treat and instead received the beaming visage of Werder Bremen's midfielder Diego.

Schalke Santa hid the terrible truth

If the shock of finding the Brazilian nemesis of your beloved team behind door No. 1 wasn't enough, Tobias discovered this was not an isolated case. His father Peter also had the same problem with the calendar, which sported a picture of Santa Claus in the team's royal blue uniform on the front.

After recovering from the shock, the Meiers investigated further with the help of the club authorities and found out that a mistake at the Italian printers meant roughly 40 of the 40,000 Schalke calendars were printed with pictures of Bremen stars inside.

"We were totally shocked," Tobias told German tabloid Bild. "We immediately opened the other doors and found there were Bremen stars behind every window - it wasn't the surprise I was expecting."

Both Schalke and Bremen had their club calendars made at the same printers near Milan which led to the mix-up.

Cut-price calendars not flying off the shelves

Schalke's club shop in Gelsenkirchen has now reduced the remaining advent gifts bearing the wrong pictures from 2.95 euros ($4.30) to 1.45 euros, but, unsurprisingly, there are few takers for the tainted calendars even at a knock-down price.

The firm who printed the calendars is offering to swap any bearing the mistake and Schalke manager Andreas Möller has issued a reassurance to worried fans.

"It's no problem," he said tongue firmly planted in cheek, "it's not as though anyone will find a Werder Bremen player under their Christmas tree."

Given Schalke's current form and that of their rivals, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing, Herr Möller!