CHENNAI: The All India Football Federation and Germany Football Association (DFB) already have a formal partnership in place, which they signed back in 2005, and the German federation wants to start the exchange programs, coaches' education and exposure tours. In this regard, AIFF senior vice president Subrata Dutta met former Germany captain and project head of DFB national academy Oliver Bierhoff , DFB general secretary Friedrich Curtius, Borussia Dortmund general manager (marketing) Carsten Cramer and Bernd Wilms, head of Bundesliga international relations on the sidelines of SPOBIS - Europe's sports business meet - last month in Dusseldorf met Curtius.

The outcome of the meetings was positive. So much so that Borussia Dortmund is willing to explore avenues in how the club can gain a foothold in the Indian market. Dortmund have been showing interest in investing in Indian market over the last few years and also had their representative from Singapore visit the country a few times but nothing concrete happened. After Dutta's visit, though, they are willing to send a high-level delegation to visit India, meet the key stakeholders, look at potential partnerships and sponsors.

"DFB got a positive feedback from their team after the successful completion of the under-17 World Cup last year. So they are interested in the Indian market. In fact, Dortmund have already sent a mail to AIFF asking when they can send their delegation to discuss future investment. There might be a possibility that they might play a pre-season game here," the official said.

