Hyderabad FC recently announced their partnership with German giants Borussia Dortmund and became the fourth club in the Asia-Oceania region to do so. Managing Director of Dortmund, Mr. Carsten Cramer was thankful to Hyderabad FC’s club hierarchy and labelled the Telangana-based outfit as the ‘lighthouse for Borussia Dortmund in India.’

“We thought of traveling to India with our legends team in March, but this had to be postponed. I am very thankful to Mr. Varun (Tripuraneni, co-owner of Hyderabad FC) and Hyderabad FC that the black and yellow of Hyderabad FC is the lighthouse for Borussia Dortmund in India,” Mr. Cramer said during a media interaction to launch their new relationship.

Mr. Cramer believes that through such partnerships, the club can connect with Dortmund fans across the globe. “We are ambassadors for German football. Therefore, the first important pillar is to refer to our club targets. But it also will help the Bundesliga and German football to be more connected to the people. In the end, we need fans; we need clubs, physical institutions. Therefore we need partnerships like this,” he said.

“This will help the Hero ISL as well, especially to attract more people in Europe. Because Hyderabad is an ambassador of the Hero ISL, as Dortmund is an ambassador of the Bundesliga as well,” Mr. Cramer added.

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Mr Suresh Letchmanan, managing director of BVB Asia-Pacific, also attended the event and spoke about the key aspect of their partnership. “It’s nice to have players from Hyderabad to come to Dortmund but fundamentally we are looking at the development of youth programmes. That is key to this partnership. At some stage we might look into it (sending Hyderabad players to Dortmund), but I don’t think this is an immediate plan,” Mr Suresh said.

On the positive impact of this collaboration, Mr. Suresh added: “This partnership brings a positive impact to the Bundesliga because this is important for leagues or clubs that are representing the Bundesliga to be present in India, and I am sure it is the same for the Hero ISL. We are looking to export the BVB culture into the Indian ecosystem. Anything we do is in tandem with Hyderabad, but we want to have a bigger presence in India. We want to have more black and yellow in India.”

Mr. Varun Tripuraneni, co-owner of Hyderabad FC, is confident that his club’s partnership with Borussia Dortmund will aid the club’s youth players, he said, “It does give opportunities for some very good youngsters to get an experience at Dortmund. The focus of the partnership is not entirely directed to the first team.”

He also hopes that the partnership will increase the popularity of the Telangana-based outfit, not only in India, but across the world. “The popularity of BVB has grown immensely over the last couple of years. Hyderabad is a new club and in a way this is a great opportunity to make our presence felt in India. We want to engage in creative fan engagements over the years. It’s not just about the results; it’s about being involved in the community as well,” Mr. Varun opined.