World1 Sports partners Borussia Dortmund (BVB) as its Grassroots Partner in India
- Association to leverage technical expertise of BVB to promote grassroots development in the country;
- Partnership marks the German Club’s first major outreach to Indian Football Community
Chennai, Sept
2019:
World1 Sports (W1 Sports), a leading sports consulting firm in India, today
announced a partnership with German Bundesliga giants, Borussia Dortmund (BVB),
as their official grassroots partner in India. A household name amongst
football fanatics across the globe, BVB have won eight German championships,
four national cups, six Supercups, one UEFA Champions League, one UEFA Cup
Winners’ Cupand one Intercontinental Cup.
This partnership marks Borussia Dortmund’s first
major outreach towards Indian Football Community. The partnership will look to
leverage the globally renowned technical expertise of BVB and W1 Sports’
know-how of the Indian football landscape to promote grassroots development
across India.
Announcing the partnership, Vikram Rajkumar,
Chief Operating Officer, World1 Sports, said, “We are delighted to partner with
Borussia Dortmund, one of the widely respected and recognized clubs in world
football today. Our vision is to create and drive a “Sports First” philosophy
in the country. We want to build and provide a structure for football in India
that allows sports persons and communities to concentrate on achieving
footballing excellence. Our partnership with Borussia Dortmund, known for its
developmental strengths, is a step in the right direction to promote the sport
at grassroots level.”
W1 Sports drives developmental projects in the
state of Tamil Nadu, Mizoram and Manipur. In a short span of two seasons, seven
players from W1 Sports’ development initiatives have been awarded 100%
scholarships in top residential football academies across India.
Talking about BVB’s first major partnership in
the country, Mr. Suresh Letchmanan, Managing Director, BVB Asia-Pacific said,
“We believe India has a strong passion towards football and Dortmund is
attracted by the craze for the sport here. Wherever there is passion for football,
there is space for the Dortmund story. We are pleased to be partnering World1
Sports who is driving the football story and connecting with the communities in
India. We are looking forward to this sustainable program geared towards
reaching, connecting and growing the Indian football community with the BVB
way.”
In partnership with Eight Goals One Foundation
(8one), W1 Sports has been running their major grassroots initiative, the Young
Legends’ League (YLL). Credited to be the first Baby League of the country, YLL
engages children between the ages of 5 and 12 years across 5 months through
weekly games of football and takes a community-based approach. The initiative
is geared towards promoting holistic development among young children. YLL was
started with a vision to address the grassroots challenges in hard to access
areas of the country. Currently running in two locations, YLL was first
organised in the Champhai district of Mizoram and was later rolled out to Bishnupur
District of Manipur; both areas known for their inherent football cultures.
Overall, YLL caters to 600 children and will be expanding to other locations in
the near future.
W1 Sports has partnered with Velammal
institutions to strategize and execute their overall sports vision by creating
various after school programs across 46 schools run by the Velammal Group. As
part of the engagement, W1 Sports will be creating in-school leadership
programs and monitor the performance of sports school against predefined
indicators.
W1 Sports prides on managing talents across
industries supporting them throughout their journey in areas including but not
limited to contract negotiations, investment advisory, financial management,
social media advisory, endorsements and image management. The talent management
arm is currently managing more than 60 professional football players plying
their trade across leagues in India including Indian Super League and I-League.
Some of these athletes are a part of the Senior and age group National Teams.Furthermore, W1 Sports has partnered with
Phoenix Group, innovators in the real estate sector, to undertake sports
infrastructure development initiatives as well as curate active-lifestyle
engagement programs for its corporate hubs.
About
Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund is one of the most traditional
and popular German football clubs. Founded in 1909, BVB boasts around 10
million fans within Germany and, in addition, also looks to a rapidly growing
fan base worldwide. The eight-time German champions and four-time German Cup winner
was in 1966 the first German club to win a European Cup competition; BVB also
became the first Bundesliga club to win the UEFA Champions League in 1997
followed by the Intercontinental Cup in the same year. With a total turnover of
over 400 million Euro, Borussia Dortmund nowadays is also one of the
economically strongest football clubs in the world.
About World1
Sports
World1 Sports (W1 Sports) is one of India’s
leading sports consulting firms having a leadership team with over 50 years of
combined experience in thesports industry. W1 Sports has worked with a diverse
set of organisations ranging from Professional Sports Clubs/Academies to
Business Conglomerates, advising them on their market entry strategy,
conceptualizing programs, grassroots development, planning on ground
activations and brand development across verticals. W1 Sports also supports
talented players get access to the right pathway for their development and
growth.W1 Sports has presence in Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad &London. For
further information, log on towww.w1sports.com