Suresh Letchmanan: Borussia Dortmund is open to local brands and local partners in China

We were able to talk with Mr.Suresh Letchmanan, Chief Representative & Head of Asia Borussia Dortmund at World Soccer Congress 2016. He has introduced the Bundesliga giant's upcoming preseason tour against Man City and Man United next month and their expansion plan in China.

Yutang: In March, when we had an interview with Mr. Carsten Cramer, he said that Borussia Dortmund has 50/50 chance to open an office in China. Three month later, would you say that the chance has increased?

Suresh Letchmanan: Very much so. I’ve seen opportunities in China. The growth of football has been seen in the last few years. It makes much sense, because we want to grow our fans. We have a relatively very big fanbase. Last year, we were here with Karl-Heinz Riedle.

Karl-Heinz Riedle was a former player of Borussia Dortmund and he also played for the German national team that won a World Cup (in 1990). He also won the (UEFA) Champions League with us in 1997. So he was here for a legend trip. He was our first time to bring a legend player to China. We were in Beijing. We were amazed by many fans’ loyal interest in Dortmund. They all say “Come, Dortmund. Please come to China. We love Dortmund, because Dortmund is a very unique club. ”

Dortmund is about people. The fans make the property, so this is very important for us and we want to continue sharing that message to our international fans. So obviously, my management also feel my quality of the club, the team. Because we set up an office in Singapore about 2 years ago. It’s obvious that Asia is a big market. Then you will slowly build as we go along. Yes, coming back to your question, in China, it’s something that, as my director has mentioned, you are obviously looking to have an office here. But it has to be organic, it has to grow as we go along, so now we have the tour coming next month and maybe from there we can see exactly how we could have something permanent in China.

Yutang: We know that you are also a sports lawyer. Do you think this experience or this career helps Dortmund to grow the business in Asia?

Suresh Letchmanan: I mean, I can speak for myself. I did sports law in my university. That helps me a lot, my terms, my understanding of legal obligations, contract obligations and also the business of sports. And business of sports sometimes would rely on some elements of legal issues or legal expertise, and that helps a lot. When you discuss potential partnerships, discuss opportunities in different countries, my experience in law obviously helps me. Or even my experience in sports law help me to move to this position and how I can go on from this position.

Yutang: Borussia Dortmund is about to play the preseason tour against Manchester City and Manchester United next month. How is every thing going? How is the preparatory work going?

Suresh Letchmanan: Yeah, it is very, very great. We did a site visit to the stadiums. We are very impressed by the preparation, by the organizers, so the preparations are going on. We are very impressed by a few of the venues for us. It’s one month a week, so we’re also preparing for the proper practice and how we would like to prepare for the teams to come to Shanghai and Shenzhen. We obviously will be in China much earlier to start the preparing for the first game, but everything is under control, everything is going on as we planned.

Yutang: So it’ll be the first time for Borussia Dortmund to come to China?

Suresh Letchmanan: Yes, I would think so.

Yutang: Would you say it’s the best time for your team to come here, given that Chinese has increasing interest in football?

Suresh Letchmanan: Absolutely. I think this is the best time to come. One is because internationally we have developed a little bit in Asia. We did a tour last year in Japan and Malaysia, so that built a little bit visibility in Asia. Obviously in China, it’s a huge market, and we see a lot of opportunities and potential for us to grow our brand in this market, and you would like to continue to develop the presence of Borussia Dortmund in China.

Yutang: On the commercial side, will your top players participate in promotional campaigns for brands?

Suresh Letchmanan: We’re open to that. We have our Asian partners that you work with. And we’re also open to other local brands and local partners. Obviously, having our players be seen here in China and associating with activities in China is also important. We are always open for possibilities and opportunities here in China, commercially or even, you know, with local partners.

Yutang: Apart from the ICC (International Champions Cup), how are you planning to bring out the true value of Borussia Dortmund Football Club into Chinese fans?

Suresh Letchmanan: One is that we're obviously trying to establish the presence of our youth system. I think, you know, Borussia Dortmund has a very strong youth philosophy. A lot of our players are from our youth system. That’s something which is very different from some of the other clubs in Europe. It’s something that we have. We have develped talents. It’s all from youth. This is something that we will never change about the club. So this is something we would like to do obviously, maybe with some collaboration with clubs in China.

Developing youth presence with soccer schools and soccer academies. And from there, I think the visibility of the club will grow, because we engage with the kids, engage with youth. And when you engage, you get presence. When you get presence, you get support. When you get support, you tend to build your brand a little bit. Your popularity comes very soon. So that’s want I want to see as an explorer running in Asia, and how we could develop the brand further in China.

Yutang: Are you planning to set up football academies yourself, or just you can find a partner to do it for you?

Suresh Letchmanan: We’re looking at partners with many ideas, with soccer school collaboration. Of course, the easiest way is to work with our existing partners and some schools present in China. That is one. The second we can do is that we’re trying to develop soccer academies, to bring our culture from Germany to China, or we probably do a three-to-five-day camp maybe in each city in China. We can do that in Beijing, Shanghai or something like that. And once we develop this, we see a growth and interest, then maybe something a little bit more permanent. Maybe we can set up a permanent soccer school.

Then we can then develop local talents or local kids. We want to make sure this is going properly. We don’t want to do it in a rush. There is no shortcuts. So when we develop youth presence, it has to be with a culture from Germany. We will want to bring the best for your cultures, so the youth players in Dortmund can bring here in China. So it’s how we understand the dominance, the possible future is exactly what you like to do, to establish youth presence or soccer schools. We have to start from somewhere, so maybe the camps will be the start for us in the coming month.

Yutang: Yeah, I’m sure you’ll play a major part in the growth of Chinese football.

Suresh Letchmanan: We hope so, because Borussia Dortmund, I’m very proud to say we have a very strong heritage, very strong history of development of talents. You can see from Mario Gotze to Marco Reus. Some of these top players are from our youth plan. We have developed this when they were very young. We want to continue that program. There are talent players here in Asia we never know. They need to understand the philosophy behind the talent and youth program. So it has to be set up in a certain way. We are confident that we are one of the best clubs that have a very strong, very concise youth system.

Suresh Letchmanan,Chief Representative & Head of Asia Borussia Dortmund, has already spent more than 10 years in the Asian sports industry and is fluent in four languages. He is also a very experienced sports lawer.