Borussia Dortmund mulling "long and sustainable relationship" with India

German giants Borussia Dortmund could enter the Indian market in a big way, and the Bundesliga club's chief marketing officer Carsten Cramer says they are looking at a long and sustainable relationship with their next "obvious destination" in Asia after China and Japan.

In the last few years, Dortmund officials have made a lot of trips to Asia, and they are now trying to establish their presence in India, having observed the market here for some time.

"India is a market that we have been observing and monitoring in the last few years and the growth of football is very much prevalent. After establishing our Asia presence in 2014 and thereafter China in 2016, India seems the obvious destination," Cramer told PTI.

He said the club will not merely borrow from its model in China and Japan as far as India is concerned.

"We have made our presence in many Asian markets -- South East Asia, Japan, China, and Mongolia and all these cities are unique in its own way. We are not copy pasting our plans and business models from these markets into India.

"It will be given its own merits and we came to learn, study and understand the culture, industry from the different stakeholders and at the same time take back some impressions.

"We will work out a strategy for the Indian market. It will be a bottom up approach hence it should begin in this fashion."
"However, we are looking at a long and sustainable relationship in India and we want to make it right from the beginning. We should have something in place in the coming months."
"This is the DNA of Dortmund and we stand united to fight against these atrocities. The pain may have disappeared but the memory remains."