'Drunk insurance' being sold to Chinese World Cup fans

It may be called the beautiful game, but soccer can provide some ugly moments off the pitch when fans push themselves to the limit during the late-night endurance effort required of World Cup fever.

Running in from the sidelines are insurers with some innovative products that can provide night owl soccer fans with cover for illnesses and accidents that may befall them as they keep up with the World Cup action from Brazil.

With most of the matches being screened in China well past midnight, insurers have been quick to spot a new market and to come up with some catchy names for products costing as little as 3 yuan (HK$3.74).

"Night owl insurance", valid for 30 days, covers medical and emergency expenses related to acute respiratory infections and includes a death claim of 10,000 yuan. It is offered by online insurance firm Zhong An, which also provides "drunk insurance", covering the medical fees of over-enthusiastic fans suffering acute intoxication. Then there is "gourmet insurance", which protects soccer lovers who may be laid low with acute gastroenteritis after over-indulging while watching the matches.

For those who plan to hang out late, they may choose "football hooligan insurance", which is similar to accident insurance; claims can be made related to disability or death incurred, with part of the medical costs covered.

Drunk insurance has proved the most popular among the four, with 24 policies sold in more than one week through online platform Taobao, while just four football hooligan insurance policies were sold by Friday.

Xu Lin, a senior consultant at a life insurance firm, gave the insurers points for marketing amid the soccer frenzy, but said the new products were merely gimmicks. "The presentation may be different, but these products are actually accident or health insurance products," he said.