Newspaper Bild scored an own goal with Germany's football fans after criticising Hamburg-based St Pauli for starting a partial boycott of a Bundesliga-wide campaign supporting the nation's refugees.

The newspaper, backed by the German Football League (DFL) and Bundesliga sponsors Hermes, launched a campaign to get all 36 clubs in Germany's top two tiers to wear a badge with 'We're helping - #refugeeswelcome' on the sleeves of their playing shirts for this weekend only.

At face-value, the campaign appears to be an honourable initiative to encourage fans to do their part to help aid new arrivals in the country.

But it has turned into something of a public relations own-goal for Germany's best-selling newspaper after seven second division clubs opted to boycott and banners criticising Bild appeared at stadiums across the country.

'#BILDnotwelcome' was spotted at several grounds as fans voiced their discontent, including Darmstadt for Saturday's 3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich, plus Borussia Dortmund and Stuttgart for Sunday's key matches.

Germany has welcomed around 450,000 refugees this year with up to one million expected in 2015, according to Angela Merkel's government.

Initially all the clubs in Germany's top two tiers agreed to support the 'We're helping!' campaign, but St Pauli were the first to drop out, politely pointing out they have been helping refugees in Germany long before Bild decided to act.

St Pauli invited more than 1,000 immigrants in the city's holding centres to their recent friendly against Borussia Dortmund, amongst other initiatives to help refugees in Hamburg.

Bild, whose logo appears on the 'We're helping!' badge, had been criticised for negative coverage of refugees in Germany in the past and has now been accused of doing a U-turn in using the current crisis to improve their image.

Bild's chief editor Kai Diekmann poured oil on the fire by writing on Twitter last Wednesday: "No heart for refugees: what a shame! #refugeesnotwelcome St. Pauli is boycotting 'We're helping'", which enraged Germany's football fans.

All of the 18 teams in Germany's first division took part in the one-off campaign, but many fan clubs put out statements urging their team to withdraw.

Six second division clubs followed St Pauli's example by pulling out, including Duisburg who wore a special shirt stating 'Refugees Welcome' for Sunday's 1-0 defeat at home to FSV Frankfurt.

"We feared having a shadow over us, due to the campaign, in the coming weeks, so we dispensed with the ('We're helping') badge on the arm," explained Duisburg in a press release.

Kaiserslautern, who also boycotted the campaign, said they had done so because they feared "the real message was being pushed into the background".

Meanwhile, World Cup winner Mario Goetze plans to raise funds to help Germany's immigrants by auctioning his playing boots embroidered with the hashtag '#refugeeswelcome'.

The 23-year-old forward scored Bayern Munich's second goal while wearing the boots in Wednesday's 3-0 win over Olympiakos in their opening Champions League group-stage match.

Goetze, whose extra-time goal allowed Germany to beat Argentina in the World Cup final in Brazil last year, wore the same embroidered boots again in Saturday's 3-0 Bundesliga win at Darmstadt.