AC MILAN bizarrely performed the haka before playing Carpi on Friday morning (AEST).

Or, at least, some blokes dressed in their kit did.

The Serie A giants had some actors pull off a cringe-inducing version of the dance usually reserved for the New Zealand rugby side.

And the Italy club’s weak effort paled in comparison to All Blacks captain Richie McCaw and beastly centre Ma’a Nonu pulled off during their triumph in last year’s World Cup.

The odd video got weirder as it emerged the poor blokes who agreed to dance did so to please club sponsors Nivea.

Milan reportedly named its clunky war dance the Tekitanka — which was branded on advertising boards around the stadium alongside social media hashtags and Nivea signage.

Video footage of the performance shows the actors pretending to apply cream to their face.

The reaction to one of sport’s most awful — truly gut-wrenchingly awful — promotions was unforgiving.

The Daily Mirror’s Thomas Bristow wrote: “We really wish this wasn’t true”.

“This is one of those times when you put your head into your hands and ask, ‘what is the world coming to?’.

“AC Milan — one of the great clubs of European football — have just committed social suicide and the Internet is exploding.”

AC Milan #haka. 2 men and a dog there to witness it and roundly slagged off online. Who sold this idea to #nivea? https://t.co/KD7JOHmTOq — andrew crosthwaite (@acrosthwaite) April 21, 2016

From Maldini, Baresi, Van Basten and Costacurta to the Nivea Haka... RIP AC Milan. pic.twitter.com/IQ4wACB5ph — Si (@SmnLlyd5) April 21, 2016

AC Milan performed the Haka before a Serie A game tonight a.k.a. 'The day football died.' #RIPFootball pic.twitter.com/zOL3DR2ZcD — Nial Foster (@NialFoster) April 21, 2016

AC Milan just did a pre-match Haka as part of a Nivea marketing campaign. There are absolutely no words. None. https://t.co/jTKiGp0Ztj — Adam Digby (@Adz77) April 21, 2016

I've seen crazy things in football but Ac Milan doing the haka beats all ... — ColmJimmyPearsonx (@colmpearson) April 21, 2016

If you’re brave enough and don’t have a weak stomach, you can watch the carnage in its pure pitifulness in this extended video below.

WARNING: Horrible things happen in this video.

Clearly the “worst haka ever performed” has some competition.

They aren’t all winners.

For those that still care about football or sport — or anything at all — after witnessing this spectacle, AC Milan failed to get the chocolates in a game they really needed to win — sitting sixth on the Serie A table.

Clearly the distraction of a pre-match haka didn’t help.

Even football superstar Mario Balotelli — the same guy who once burned up his own home when he lit fireworks inside his bathroom while playing for Manchester City in 2011 — would have been shocked.

Clearly, New AC Milan coach Cristian Brocchi didn’t get the home debut result he was hoping for in a 0-0 draw with relegation-threatened Carpi.

With Balotelli and Carlos Bacca leading the way, the Rossoneri produced numerous chances but couldn’t quite find the target as Carpi consistently positioned their entire squad behind the ball.

“I never thought it was going to be an easy job,” Brocchi said.

“Tonight, we saw what some of the problems are, and in the future we’ll try to correct them.” Winless at the San Siro since February, Milan’s draw left them six points behind fifth-place Fiorentina in the race for the final Europa League spot.

Milan’s 17-year-old goalkeeper, Gianluigi Donnarumma, preserved the draw by leaping to tip a shot from Marco Crimi over the bar in the 90th minute.

Brocchi was hired to replace the fired Sinisa Mihajlovic this month, and won his first match in charge against Sampdoria.

Bacca glared at Brocchi after being replaced by Jeremy Menez in the 70th.

Carpi, playing their first season in the top flight, moved two points above the drop zone.

— with AP