Oops: Barack Obama mistaken for England defender Chris Smalling (Picture: REX)

He may be the leader of the free world, but that didn’t stop a bumbling souvenir company mistaking Barack Obama for England player Chris Smalling on a memento mug.

The unnamed (embarrassed!) company were keen to go top of the league with a range of merchandise for the World Cup, but when they unpacked the 2,000 mugs featuring the faces of our under performing heroes, it was clear someone’s footballing research skills were strictly non-league.

Upon realising their mistake – in a move which wouldn’t be out of place in Only Fools and Horses – they turned to Dorset-based clearance re-sellers Wholesale Clearance UK to try and shift the stock.

Unlikely England line-up: Featuring Barack Obama (Picture: REX)

Here’s who you should’ve had: The real Chris Smalling (Picture: Rex)

Karl Baxter MD for Wholesale Clearance explains: ‘The Dorset company in question was given the seemingly easy job of sourcing royalty free pictures of each England squad player to use on the England mugs – along with other accompanying items such as England coasters, England mouse mats etc.




‘They passed this onto to their young, bright eyed and bushy tailed new apprentice. The designs were proofed and signed off by their boss, who had clearly had a heavy night with the lads playing poker and before he’d had his first vat of coffee the following morning.

‘They immediately contacted us and 2,000 of the England items was dispatched to our warehouse. We eagerly unpacked them and, indeed it turned out that the Chris Smalling cup had Barack Obama’s head on instead of Chris’s.’

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