By once again directly qualifying for the UEFA Champions League, the club again has the opportunity to consolidate its standing as one of Europe's top teams and to once more share in the profits distributed for participating in the lucrative competition. In addition to the prestige associated with the UEFA Champions League, the new models for distributing TV marketing income and the significantly higher pay-outs are what make participating in the competition so lucrative.
The team was successfully rebuilt in the past season and the associated expectations that this would improve the professional squad were met. In year two of the project, which included bringing in Lucien Favre as head coach, Sebastian Kehl as Head of the Professional Squad and Matthias Sammer as an external advisor, and transforming the squad, Borussia Dortmund believes that there is further room for improvement. Over the past year, everyone in Sports worked together as one team, changes were initiated and opportunities were identified. In addition to steadily fine-tuning the sporting foundation, changes were also made to the squad. The return of Mats Hummels is intended to stabilise Borussia Dortmund's defence in the long term. Furthermore, Borussia Dortmund sees the signing as an opportunity to strengthen the team off the pitch as well and to contribute to the development of young talents such as Mateu Morey. Borussia Dortmund wants to seize the opportunity and improve its chances of winning the title in the new season by making the team more robust, adding experienced players and injecting young, up-and-coming talent into the mix.
Borussia Dortmund has an excellent team, a fact that is not lost on other top European clubs. Accordingly, there is always the possibility of lucrative transfers.
Borussia Dortmund sees further potential in its youth setup, where it lays the foundation for its sporting success. Accordingly, the club made concerted efforts to align the work of the Evonik football academy with that of the youth academy. In addition to the development of new concepts, decentralised locations were opened with partner clubs in order to improve the chances of discovering new talent. Professionalising the work of the youth academy goes hand in hand with its physical expansion. The number of students residing at the youth academy will double.
In addition, Borussia Dortmund also appointed Michael Skibbe as the U19 coach and brought in Otto Addo in the newly created role of "talent coach" to help promote talented youngsters to the senior team.
Borussia Dortmund continues to push ahead with its internationalisation efforts. The use of virtual advertising boards not only generates direct streams of revenue but also helps establish new contacts and partnerships, especially in Asia. Borussia Dortmund considers Asia in particular to be a further growth market. Borussia Dortmund uses its representative offices in Singapore and Shanghai to cater to its fans and react to market developments in Asia. Restructuring the social media department to keep up with the pace of digitalisation is a key component in unlocking the potential of foreign markets. Internally, Borussia Dortmund has already positioned itself more broadly and professionally in this respect.
In addition to leveraging marketing potential and increasing its brand awareness internationally, Borussia Dortmund continually seeks to be a driver of progress and a source of pride amongst its fans in the heart of Dortmund. The construction of the fan and youth centre is another important sign that Borussia Dortmund wants to grow, seeks opportunities and does not expect a downturn any time soon.