FC Bayern Partnership
In January 2019, FC Bayern Munich agreed another unique partnership with the South Korean Football Association (KFA). This strategically important partnership is already the second of the German record champions with an association in the Asian region, after a cooperation with the Japanese Football Association (JFA) had already been established in May 2018.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, former CEO of FC Bayern München AG: "South Korea's football has great talents in the youth field and is characterised by very good youth development. We see this especially in Woo-Yeong Jeong, who joined us from South Korea a year ago and is developing excellently. We are therefore proud to enter into this partnership and to support the positive path of the KFA in the future and to take the next steps together".
"A great partnership for our association and the right step to pursue and achieve our goals. I played in the 2002 World Cup semi-final against Miroslav Klose, now a youth coach of FC Bayern. Therefore, I know about his qualities as a player and I am confident that with the support of FC Bayern and the agreed cooperation contents, our Korean talents can be brought even closer to the level demanded by young players in the top leagues in Europe today. A great opportunity not only for our players, teams and coaches, but for the whole Korean football community", says KFA CEO and record national player Myung-bo Hong.
Jörg Wacker, former FC Bayern's Board Member for Internationalisation and Strategy, added after signing the contract in Munich: "The partnership with KFA is another important step in our internationalisation strategy in Asia. There are a large number of very good junior structures and talents there. Korea is one of Asia's leading countries in this field, so this cooperation is an excellent match for FC Bayern."
Special programs are being developed both for players and for the coaches of the South Korean Football Association, which are to be jointly implemented in South Korea and on the FC Bayern campus in Munich. Friendly matches between youth teams, exchange programs and training camps round off this cooperation.
At the end of September, in tandem with the Korean Football Association, who we have a youth partnership with since the start of the year, several football camps were held under the direction of our experienced coaches. We are looking forward to welcoming the top talents from the camps to Munich this year.
In November, the selected boys travelled to Munich for an exclusive training week. While being trained by FC Bayern's international coaches, the kids got a glimpse of how our youth team players must feel when training for our club. Sightseeing in Munich, an exclusive tour in the Allianz Arena and of course a visit of a home match of FC Bayern's first team were part of the group's program!
FC Bayern Youth Cup
The FC Bayern Youth Cup is the world's biggest and oldest international youth football tournament series carried out by a football club. The tournament took place for the first time in 2012 and has been conducted eight times since its start.
In 2020, due to the COVID-19-Pandemic, the 1st edition of the Youth Cup in South Korea sadly had to be rescheduled. We are hoping to bring the project to South Korea in 2021.