WORLD 1 Sports (W1 Sports), a leading sports consulting firm in India, today announced a partnership with German Bundesliga giants, Borussia Dortmund (BVB), as their official grassroots partner in India. A household name amongst football fanatics across the globe, BVB have won eight German championships, four national cups, six Supercups, one UEFA Champions League, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and one Intercontinental Cup.
This partnership marks Borussia Dortmund’s first major outreach towards Indian Football Community. The partnership will look to leverage the globally renowned technical expertise of BVB and W1 Sports’ know-how of the Indian football landscape to promote grassroots development across India.
Announcing the partnership, Vikram Rajkumar, Chief Operating Officer, World1 Sports, said, “We are delighted to partner with Borussia Dortmund, one of the widely respected and recognized clubs in world football today. Our vision is to create and drive a “Sports First” philosophy in the country. We want to build and provide a structure for football in India that allows sports persons and communities to concentrate on achieving footballing excellence. Our partnership with Borussia Dortmund, known for its developmental strengths, is a step in the right direction to promote the sport at grassroots level.”
W1 Sports drives developmental projects in the state of Tamil Nadu, Mizoram and Manipur. In a short span of two seasons, seven players from W1 Sports’ development initiatives have been awarded 100% scholarships in top residential football academies across India.
Talking about BVB’s first major partnership in the country, Mr. Suresh Letchmanan, Managing Director, BVB Asia-Pacific said, “We believe India has a strong passion towards football and Dortmund is attracted by the craze for the sport here. Wherever there is passion for football, there is space for the Dortmund story. We are pleased to be partnering World1 Sports who is driving the football story and connecting with the communities in India. We are looking forward to this sustainable program geared towards reaching, connecting and growing the Indian football community with the BVB way.”
In partnership with Eight Goals One Foundation (8one), W1 Sports has been running their major grassroots initiative, the Young Legends’ League (YLL). Credited to be the first Baby League of the country, YLL engages children between the ages of 5 and 12 years across 5 months through weekly games of football and takes a community-based approach. The initiative is geared towards promoting holistic development among young children. YLL was started with a vision to address the grassroots challenges in hard to access areas of the country. Currently running in two locations, YLL was first organised in the Champhai district of Mizoram and was later rolled out to Bishnupur District of Manipur; both areas known for their inherent football cultures. Overall, YLL caters to 600 children and will be expanding to other locations in the near future.
W1 Sports has partnered with Velammal institutions to strategize and execute their overall sports vision by creating various after school programs across 46 schools run by the Velammal Group. As part of the engagement, W1 Sports will be creating in-school leadership programs and monitor the performance of sports school against predefined indicators.
W1 Sports prides on managing talents across industries supporting them throughout their journey in areas including but not limited to contract negotiations, investment advisory, financial management, social media advisory, endorsements and image management. The talent management arm is currently managing more than 60 professional football players plying their trade across leagues in India including Indian Super League and I-League. Some of these athletes are a part of the Senior and age group National Teams.
Furthermore, W1 Sports has partnered with Phoenix Group, innovators in the real estate sector, to undertake sports infrastructure development initiatives as well as curate active-lifestyle engagement programs for its corporate hubs.
About Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund is one of the most traditional and popular German football clubs. Founded in 1909, BVB boasts around 10 million fans within Germany and, in addition, also looks to a rapidly growing fan base worldwide. The eight-time German champions and four-time German Cup winner was in 1966 the first German club to win a European Cup competition; BVB also became the first Bundesliga club to win the UEFA Champions League in 1997 followed by the Intercontinental Cup in the same year. With a total turnover of over 400 million Euro, Borussia Dortmund nowadays is also one of the economically strongest football clubs in the world.
About World1 Sports
World1 Sports (W1 Sports) is one of India’s leading sports consulting firms having a leadership team with over 50 years of combined experience in the sports industry. W1 Sports has worked with a diverse set of organisations ranging from Professional Sports Clubs/Academies to Business Conglomerates, advising them on their market entry strategy, conceptualizing programs, grassroots development, planning on ground activations and brand development across verticals. W1 Sports also supports talented players get access to the right pathway for their development and growth. W1 Sports has presence in Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad & London