A Dutch football fan has taken the love of his nation to the next level.
Bart Blom got a tattoo proclaiming his nation will be Euro 2024 champions before the tournament had even kicked off.
He took the plunge when he saw a tattoo shop advertising a competition for a free inking and a cash prize of £8,400 (€10,000).
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However, Bart will only see the cash if his beloved Netherlands are crowned European champions.
But for the daredevil 23-year-old it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.
“I just thought it was a cool idea in combination with my other crazy tattoos,” Bart, from Roosendaal, Netherlands, told What’s The Jam.
“I never thought I would be invited to get it.”
The tattoo, on the inside of Bart’s right lower arm, has the Euros trophy on top of the Netherlands flag with ‘Uefa Euro 2024 winner’ written in black capital letters below.
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Bart said: “The tattoo process went very smoothly from start to finish. The moment I entered the tattoo shop I immediately felt a good atmosphere.
“Nice people, good tattoo artist.
“Now the tattoo is healing, there are some things that need to be worked on, but hey, everything will be fine.”
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As for Netherlands, who have reached the quarter-final stage, actually winning the competition, Bart is positive.
He said: “We still have to work hard and it will be a process, but I am confident we will become European champions.”
Falko Eichorn, owner of Falcon Ink, who came up with the competition said: “We had 12 apply for the competition and had to draw lots.
“Bart Blom was the lucky one.
“I thought nobody would apply and wasn’t sure about the reward.
“We thought at first £4,200 (€5,000) but then felt let’s make it special and big.
“Let’s find one person crazy and brave enough to do this and if Netherlands wins, this one person also wins big.”
“We couldn’t be more happy with Bart.
“He sat like a champ and wasn’t nervous. It also wasn’t his first ‘crazy’ tattoo, so he was the best competitor we could imagine.”
Asked how hopeful he is of Bart, and Netherlands, coming out on top, he said: “We wouldn’t do this if we didn’t think Netherlands had a chance.
“I really hope Netherlands wins the Euros and Bart wins the money.”
The tattoo artist uploaded a picture of the tattoo to his TikTok page (@falconink .geleen) where it got thousands of likes.
But, not everyone was convinced.
“Can’t wait for the cover up,” quipped one user.
“With that 10k he can just have the tattoo lasered away,” added another person.
Someone else said: “Imagine they lose.”
“He jinxed this European Championship, it’s over,” fumed one follower.
“Man also knows in his head that the Netherlands is not going to win,” stated another person.
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