Borussia Dortmund legends team tour of India cancelled due to COVID-19

The Black and Yellow have further cancelled their plans to send the first squad on a three-nation tour of China, Japan and Singapore.

As part of the decision to alter their pre-season plans in Asia due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund have decided against sending their legends team to India. The global pandemic has resulted in lockdowns and overseas travel restrictions across the world, which in turn will prevent the club from conducting a host of pre-season programmes in India and a few other Asian countries.

Speaking about the circumstances that led to this latest decision, Suresh Letchmanan, managing director of Borussia Dortmund for Asia-Pacific told Firstpost, "Yes, we were due to play the legends game (in India), but due to the coronavirus pandemic, no one’s allowed to travel. But we will fulfill that obligation of bringing a team to India (in the future) because football is ever-growing in India."

“Due to the constraints and restrictions of travelling, we have to be extremely focused on the markets we want to be present in. But India is definitely a market we are always trying to grow (in) and be present in. India is one of the most important markets for us. As soon as we get clearances, we will start planning for an opportunity for the legends team to be present in India,” he added.

Firstpost also reported that the Black and Yellow have further cancelled their plans to send the first squad on a three-nation tour of China, Japan and Singapore. Had the tour gone ahead as planned, it would have been their first pre-season trip to Asia after two years of them travelling westward. As of now, BVB will instead be conducting a virtual tour in China, Japan and Singapore, so as to make amends to the sudden change in plans.

As part of the above-mentioned virtual tour, the club will be conducting virtual meetings for fans with players, apart from hosting having live streams of training sessions and even friendly matches in the build-up to the upcoming 2020-21 Bundesliga season.

On being asked why India were not chosen for the virtual tour, Benedikt Scholz, who Head of Borussia Dortmund international department, said, “(While planning the virtual tour) we focused on the countries we were planning to travel to physically before the coronavirus pandemic hit, to be very honest. We want to be as specific as possible, as tailor-made as possible with this virtual tour. That’s why we’ve focused on these three locations."

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“It is a challenging time for all of us but we want to make the most of it. Accessibility and personal contact are not possible these days, so we want to have personal contact via digital and virtual means. Our ambition is to be as close as possible even with a distance of thousands of kilometres between us, to give fans the feeling that we’re committed to supporting you with your needs,” he added further.

Scholz also revealed that that the club is, in fact, planning tailor-made activities for fans in India at the moment. “We’re absolutely aware of the craziness of people for football. There is one other sport in India, I know. We’re closely following the local leagues, both leagues, actually. We are dedicated and committed to reach out more and exchange more with Indians.”

"We’ve felt an effect of the situation. But if you look at all our commercial partners are long-term partners. There’s loyalty on both sides. Not one single partnership has come to an end or has been truly questioned during the pandemic. I wouldn’t say that Asian territories have become more important because we have always been committed to Asia. It’s not about putting one market over the other, just about making the best of the current challenging situation,” he concluded.