Bayern Munich: Germany's top team to travel to Asia
International marketing is the current trend among Germany’s Bundesliga clubs.
“International marketing will be the big theme of the next few years,” says Axel Hellmann, Financial Director of Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt. He should know, because he belongs to the newly created Internationalization Task Force of the German Football League (DFL). Its primary aim is to support the Bundesliga in all its international activities. According to the DFL’s official league report, the aim is to boost revenue from international marketing from currently €75 million to about €162 million in the 2016/2017 season. That’s why many Bundesliga clubs are increasingly positioning themselves on the Asian and US markets.
Philipp Lahm says hello in Chinese
Germany’s top team Bayern Munich, which itself contributes more than 20 percent (€2.45 billion) to the Bundesliga’s total turnover, moved into its own offices with six employees on the 21st floor of a skyscraper in Manhattan in 2014. Furthermore, the club from Munich is playing the game big in China. In summer 2015 Germany’s record soccer champions will undertake an advertising and training tour of China featuring all their stars, with matches in Beijing and Shanghai. This is why captain Philipp Lahm greets readers in Chinese on Bayern’s home page. Borussia Dortmund (BVB), another global player, also wants to become better established on the Asian market. BVB have tripled their turnover there over the last three years. Having Japanese player Shinji Kagawa in the yellow-and-black jersey has also contributed to the club’s popularity. After the end of the season, Dortmund, too, will be taking their complete team to Asia. And several Bundesliga clubs ran their winter training camps in Abu Dhabi, Qatar and the USA and are intensifying their contacts there.
