Covid-19: Borussia Dortmund set for a virtual pre-season tour of Asia

Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund are planning a virtual pre-season tour of Asia for its fans from the region, titled 'BVB Virtual Asia Tour'.

Dortmund were set to tour China and other countries in South East Asia with the senior team before the start of the 2020-21 season but had to cancel those plans due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic that has impacted life worldwide.

The virtual tour is expected to take place in the first week of August and will combine a variety of novel measures to interact with their fans from the region.

There is expected to be virtual meetings with players, livestreams of training sessions and possibly friendly matches as far as online content is concerned. Offline content will see activities on location with BVB legends, BVB’s mascot EMMA and the BVB Evonik Soccer Academy, keeping in mind the Coronavirus protection measures in each country.

The 30 or more BVB fan clubs from the region will have an active part in the tour along with BVB's commercial partners in the region.

The launch of the new cup jersey, among other things, is also being planned in association with the club’s primary international sponsors - Evonik and Puma. The cup jersey is traditionally worn for all DFB-Pokal matches, UEFA Champions League matches and for international friendly matches.

“Many fans and partners from the region were in touch with us saying that they still wanted to get as close to the players as possible, especially in this most difficult of situations”, explained BVB Manging Director Carsten Cramer. He added that “this inspired us to strengthen our digital communications from Dortmund to Asia in close cooperation with our office locations in Singapore and Shanghai as part of our preparations for the 2020/21 Bundesliga season”.

Benedikt Scholz, BVB’s Head of International & New Business, gave an example of how the tour has been designed and geared for action both on location and at home.

“Fans will be able to travel with the BVB tour bus in Shanghai to a Black and Yellow viewing party and will get to know EMMA as well as the staff at BVB’s China office. They can watch the team’s training session in Dortmund via the livestream accompanied by Chinese commentary and with a link to a Chinese reporter at the training ground. After training has finished, they will able to meet BVB players during an exclusive online meet-and-greet," he said.