September 11, 2022
The brief from today:
Vietnam welcomes Borussia Dortmund legends
The latest stop for the Borussia Dortmund legends team is set to be Vietnam. After a successful visit by the former stars to Ghana in June, Dortmund’s media rights owner in Vietnam—Next Media—has arranged for a similar event in south east Asia. The trip is scheduled for the end of September, and will include a three day tour from the 27th until the 29th. The match itself is planned for the 28th, in Ho Chi Minh’s Thong Nhat Stadium, and will see the legends team take on an all star Vietnam side of celebrities and former footballers. The charity match is meant to assist orphans and children who have been impacted by COVID, and all the sales associated with the game will contribute to various causes supporting them. Dortmund have been making a push in Asian markets in recent years, which made this tour less of a logistical challenge. In addition to Vietnam, the Bundesliga side launched an office in Singapore in 2014, which was then followed by another opening in Shanghai in 2017. Aside from office locations and media partners, Dortmund have also forged strategic relationships with various clubs in the region including: Lion City Sailors (Singapore), Buriram United (Thailand), and Langkawi City FC (Malaysia). The club also ventured into the Japanese market with the Evonik Football academy in Nagoya, which is meant to provide facilities and coaching for local kids. It isn’t just former players, however, that may be making the trip to Asia, there are reportedly plans for the current Dortmund squad to do a tour of the region during the month of the World Cup at year’s end. Of course this will only include players whose countries aren’t participating in Qatar, but it will still be a great opportunity for fans in the region to see their favorite club in person.
The Dortmund Legends team has been making the rounds lately, and Vietnam will be their next stop
Boehly looking to poach more talent
New Chelsea co-owner, Todd Boehly, has made quite an impression since the takeover of the Premier League side. Whether that impression is positive or negative depends on who is asked, but he’s certainly announced his presence. Shortly after taking over, he appointed himself interim sporting director, without previous experience in the sport, heading into the very busy summer transfer window. Part of this was hubris, but it was also due to the mass exodus at the club’s administrative level including the departures of Marina Granovskaia and Petr Cech, who both previously worked on transfers. Boehly then proceeded to oversee a rather chaotic market, which involved very little strategy coupled with excessive spending totaling almost £300 million. Six rounds into the new season he then fired Champions League winning manager, Thomas Tuchel, after a shaky start. This was then followed by the decision to appoint Graham Potter from Brighton as the replacement, but that required another £20 million expenditure since Potter’s contract contained a release clause/penalty. Now, Boehly has shifted focus to filling the sporting director role permanently, and for this he has also earmarked an option currently tied to two clubs. Luis Campos, famed Portuguese sporting director, who built the only two Ligue 1 sides, Monaco and Lille, to wrestle away the league title from PSG since 2013, is on Boehly’s radar. Campos joined PSG this summer as sporting advisor, a role he also holds for La Liga side, Celta Vigo, and oversaw both transfer windows for each side. Campos has been credited with taking a new and more measured approach in PSG’s dealings this summer compared to previous years of reckless spending. He was also able to trim the squad size down drastically considering the number of players still on payroll who barely played. All of this, in addition to his previous exploits, makes it unsurprising that Boehly is interested in his services. Having joined PSG so recently makes it difficult to know whether Campos will entertain such a sudden departure. He has been tasked with building a new project and approach in Paris, something Boehly will also desire at Chelsea, and despite the odds, there’s still a chance Boehly may get his man much like he did with Potter.
Boehly has certainly made his presence felt since the Chelsea takeover