Oliver Kahn as ambassador of the Bundesliga in China
4 October 2019 – As part of an official Bundesliga Experience event, the former Bundesliga and Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn visited the Chinese capital Beijing to promote the Bundesliga in the Far East and give Chinese fans a taste of ‘Football As It’s Meant To Be’.
Organised by the DFL subsidiary Bundesliga International in partnership with Bundesliga media partner PP Sports, the four-day event included a number of activities with the former World Goalkeeper of the Year. This included a coaching session with Kahn’s goalkeeper training Academy “Goalplay” at the academy of Chinese Super League club Beijing Renhe FC. About 40 goalkeeper coaches from the Chinese first and second division clubs, Chinese FA and Beijing Sports University, as well as Bundesliga clubs’ partner football schools joined in. Kahn: “We want to support football players in China by sharing our knowledge and experiences to help educate them. Bundesliga clubs are certainly well prepared to help China continue its footballing development in the future.” Fans were also able to interact with the eight-time Bundesliga champion at an exclusive meet and greet event, where 40 competition winners met up with the Bundesliga ambassador, who played 557 Bundesliga matches for Karlsruher SC and FC Bayern München between 1987 and 2008.
Kahn also joined Bundesliga International in welcoming around 40 guests from the sports industry and Chinese media such as representatives from Bundesliga media partners PP Sports and Star Times to a dinner reception. Speaking about his experiences in the Far East, Kahn said: “As an ambassador of the Bundesliga I really enjoyed my time there, especially meeting with the passionate fans in Beijing – it’s always a great pleasure.”
Kahn’s visit to China is the latest Bundesliga Experience to be organised by Bundesliga International. Other events held over the past 12 months to promote German professional football include Bundesliga Experiences with former VfB Stuttgart and Mexico player Pavel Pardo in Mexico City, the record German international Lothar Matthäus in India, former Germany striker Jürgen Klinsmann also in China whilst the former Eintracht Frankfurt star Jay-Jay Okocha visited South Africa and Nigeria.
The goal of such Bundesliga Experience events is to provide physical touch points to German professional football in key Bundesliga markets across the world. Fan interaction is one of the most important elements of Bundesliga Experiences, delivered through interaction with Bundesliga ambassadors, football tournaments and coaching sessions for example. This creates engagement with numerous stakeholders through multi-faceted programmes developed by Bundesliga International in cooperation with the clubs of the Bundesliga, local media partners and numerous local market experts.