German Football Should Stop Promoting Populism - Bayern CEO

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge

Bayern Munich finished off their summer preseason tour of the United States with a 3-2 loss to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in Miami, Florida, just three days after losing 2-0 to Juventus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While the football on the pitch might not have been anywhere near what Niko Kovač and his staff were expecting from the squad, the brief tour in the U.S. was another fantastic opportunity for the club to promote and interact with fans who rarely have the opportunity to see their team in person.

Despite the success of the tour from a marketing and advertising perspective, club CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge admitted that German football and the Bundesliga still have a lot of work to do to really put themselves on the global map once again. Populism, he feels, is detracting from a lot of the German clubs that have immense potential to really brand themselves, and instead only caters to the clubs that are successful on the European stage, like Bayern. Bayern’s standing has also taken a dip within the past four-and-a-half years, though, especially with how successful other European clubs have been, Rummenigge admitted (via kicker):

We have to stop promoting populism. If you look at it statistically and factually, we have lost some ground in the past few years. In 2013, we were second in the UEFA rankings, only the Spanish were ahead of us. Now not only have the English, but also the Italians passed us. We have to watch out a bit; the slippage is being noticed in the US market and in Asia. As the Bundesliga, we have to have an interest in attacking. Bayern Munich cannot do that alone; the Bundesliga as a whole must act.


(Bavarian Football Works)



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