Bremen choose SA to boost fan base
JUST ONE fan in a green and white shirt was on hand to greet Werder Bremen on their arrival in South Africa for a 10-day training camp during the Bundesliga winter break.
And there were neither spectators in the stadium nor live broadcasts of two friendlies against South African PSL teams.
Not that they would have missed anything, at least in the first game, as Sunday’s match against Kaizer Chiefs in the huge Johannesburg World Cup 2010 stadium was abandoned after 50 minutes because of a thunder storm.
Bremen are the latest Bundesliga club to make a long-distance trip, just as Eintracht Frankfurt did to Florida and champions Bayern Munich once again to Qatar, while the majority of the clubs just make the short hop to Spain to escape the German winter weather.
The reason is partly that the German Football League (DFL) is continuing its effort to make the Bundesliga and its clubs more popular around the world, with the league lagging far behind the English Premier League which has huge international exposure.
“The English Premier League is at least one or two steps ahead everywhere in the world. That is the reason why we are here (in SA),” Bremen supervisory board chief Marco Bode said.
“The league has identified South Africa and some other countries as potential for the Bundesliga and we gladly support this.”
Unlike Frankfurt’s and Munich’s, Bremen’s trip is partly funded by the DFL.
The club itself is paying what it would have cost to train in Spain, and has the obligation to be available for DFL media partners in South Africa.
The DFL generates some €280 million per season with rights outside Germany – a fraction compared to the €1.2 billion the Premier League generates per season under the 2016-19 deal.
Funding club activities abroad started in 2013/14, and up to now 76 activities have been supported by the DFL in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa.
Top sides like Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have long had offices in Asia and/or North America to promote their brand.
But there is also a downside as, for instance, Munich have long been criticised for holding their January camp in Qatar, where, according to human rights organisations, workers’ rights remain below standard.
Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge insisted during the current stay in Doha that changes for the better in the 2022 World Cup host country have been acknowledged by NGOs and others, while Munich also cite the ideal weather and training conditions.
Frankfurt faced similar criticism when they trained on six occasions in Abu Dhabi.
Now Eintracht are in the US for the second time, and the aim is the same as for any other club, according to sports director Fredi Bobic. “We want to make the brand Eintracht Frankfurt more popular. That only works through sustainability.”