Report: Three Bundesliga clubs consider adding Canadian affiliate
Will German footballing clubs soon become active participants in the North American Soccer business model? Though the concept of developmental teams remains foreign to century-old sporting societies who have their own youth academies, franchise branding may be an unavoidable facet of the future.
Transfermarkt.de's stateside journalistic arm reports that three German Bundesliga clubs currently consider cooperation agreements with potential expansion teams in the newly formed Canadian Premier Football League. FC Bayern München, Borussia Dortmund, and even SV Werder Bremen are said to be considering partnering up with a new British Columbia-based franchise.
The mere thought of global franchise branding remains anathema to many German footballing fans. It nevertheless cannot be denied that the corporate approach has already arrived in Germany. The very young RB Leipzig franchise currently tops the 2020/21 Bundesliga table and will most likely capture the league title at some point this decade.
The Red Bull GmBH conglomerate will continue to feed Leipzig top players from its other footballing affiliates in Salzburg, New York, and Sao Paoulo. SAP's TSG 1889 Hoffenheim has already signed a cooperation agreement with FC Cincinnati of the USA's MLS.
Something resembling the City Football Group, which uses England's Manchester City as a flagship for nine similarly branded teams all across the globe, appears impossible in the land of 50+1 fan ownership. Smaller scale cooperation remains a possibility.
Atletico Madrid already work in tandem with one of the Canadian League teams, branded by the Spanish league club as "Athletico Ottawa". Transfermarkt reports that the three German clubs involved stand very interested in copying this model.