Michael Diederich, Bayern Munich's executive vice chairman, underlined the club's interest in China and its football, and revealed a possible China visit by the club's World Squad youth program in 2025.
by Liu Yang, Yuan Hengrui and Oliver Trust
BERLIN, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Bayern Munich's executive vice chairman Michael Diederich has highlighted China's role as one of the most important markets for the German record champions.
In a recent interview with Xinhua, 59-year-old Diederich, also the club's CFO, stated that Bayern will maintain a presence in China and continue intensive collaborations with Chinese partners.
"We have great interest in China and its football as we constantly investigate international markets for new talents," Diederich said.
With the club's last annual summer tour to China taking place in 2017, Bayern expects its World Squad youth program to visit China in 2025.
"I remember it was 2017 when I attended the summer tour in China, which I enjoyed a lot. At that point, I was a member of the supervisory board and joined as a partner the tour in China. We have plans to go there next year with the world youth soccer team," said Diederich.
Bayern will move its Shanghai office to a new site in November, and Diederich is set to pay his second visit to Shanghai this year.
"We have colleagues over there. The last time I visited them was in April," said Diederich. "China is a very important market for us, and we are taking care of that."
Bayern signed Chinese goalkeeper Liu Shaoziyang in December 2021 and loaned him to Austrian Bundesliga club Klagenfurt in 2022. Liu moved permanently to Austrian second division club SV Horn in 2024, signing a two-year contract.
"We are looking for talents around the globe. If there is someone from China, we would be happy to take more," said Diederich.
Speaking of the club's management, especially on healthy growth and development, the club official outlined three pillars to explain the club's long-term success: sporting competitiveness, financial stability, and social responsibility.
"We only spend what we earn with our partners or through merchandising. That is the financial stability part. We want to win as many titles as possible and to bear our social responsibility. We need to keep them in balance, and that's part of our club's DNA," Diederich remarked.
The Bundesliga giants had claimed a record 11 consecutive Bundesliga titles before losing out to Bayer Leverkusen last season.
Diederich is optimistic that Bayern is on the way to returning to success this season. With new coach Vincent Kompany, the 2020 treble winners have made a good start to the current campaign, sitting top of the Bundesliga table.
"We are confident we will cross the finish line first in the national campaign," the official said. "To win as many titles as possible remains a major goal." ■
