“That’s far too little!”: Bayern boss sharply criticizes the Bundesliga | OneFootball

For years, FC Bayern has been a pioneer in the international marketing of the Bundesliga. With their upcoming Asian tour, the Munich club is consistently continuing down this path. However, Chief Marketing Officer Rouven Kasper has strong words for the competition—and is calling for significantly more commitment from the other Bundesliga clubs.

Today, Saturday, the German record champions are traveling to South Korea and Hong Kong for the Audi Summer Tour. The itinerary includes not only friendly matches against Jeju SK FC and Aston Villa, but also numerous marketing and fan events.

For Kasper, such trips have long been indispensable for maintaining the international visibility of FC Bayern and the Bundesliga. In an interview with the Münchner Merkur/tz, the 44-year-old therefore criticized the lack of activity on the part of many German clubs.

“Bundesliga clubs need to think more long-term.”

“After the season, Leipzig went on a tour; aside from us, only Dortmund is on the road this summer, and in September, Paderborn is flying to the U.S. That’s far too little! Bundesliga clubs need to think more long-term,” Kasper explained.

The chief marketing officer pointed to international competitors who are ahead of German clubs when it comes to marketing. “The English are going out into the world—which also means that German clubs have to be active. You can’t stay at home and then complain that revenue is falling. If you don’t do anything, you won’t get anything in return.”

From the perspective of the Bayern official, German soccer needs a significantly greater international presence: “German soccer needs more visibility. That’s why we have to keep pushing the boundaries further and further.”

Bayern Calls for a Joint Strategy

Photo: IMAGO

At the same time, Kasper made it clear that FC Bayern cannot tackle this challenge alone. “It’s unfortunately a fact that media revenues, for example in the U.S. and Japan, are currently declining—but that makes it all the more important for the league to work with us to find strategic mechanisms to drive these activities forward. Bayern Munich can’t travel everywhere.”

In fact, the Bundesliga’s international marketing efforts have been stagnating for years. While the English Premier League and La Liga generate enormous revenues worldwide, the Bundesliga lags significantly behind in international comparisons.

FC Bayern therefore wants to further expand its activities abroad. In addition to North and Central America, the club will also be focusing more strongly on South America and numerous Asian markets in the future.

“Our target markets are clearly defined. In the Americas, we’ve focused on North and Central America so far, but South America is becoming increasingly exciting. Asia is just as clear—we should also look at India, Indonesia, and Thailand. We need to try out new approaches there on a case-by-case basis,” Kasper emphasized.

With his criticism, the Bayern executive is sending a clear message to the Bundesliga: Only if more clubs actively pursue the international market can the league keep pace with Europe’s financially powerful top leagues in the long term.