FC Bayern Munich and Wangkanai extend partnership until 2026

FC Bayern Munich is extending the successful partnership with the Thai corporate group Wangkanai until 2026. Since 2016, FC Bayern Munich and Wangkanai – one of the biggest sugar producers in Southeast Asia – have been working together closely.

Wangkanai and FC Bayern Munich have collaborated on several very successful projects, particularly in the field of youth development, which will be the cornerstones of the partnership in the future. Among these are the FC Bayern Youth Cup Thailand and the “FC Bayern 12 Level Kurs” for local schools, mutually developed with the Thai Ministry of Education.

Joerg Wacker, Executive Board Member for Internationalization: “Thailand and the entire region of Southeast Asia are a strategically important market for us, on which we will focus even more in the future. The extension of the partnership in times of the Corona pandemic shows that both FC Bayern Munich and Wangkanai have long-term goals. We would like to thank Wangkanai for the very successful and trustful past 5 years and are very happy to be able to continue and expand our joint projects in the future.”

Tanyaruk Na Wangkanai, Public Relations Director Wangkanai Group: “FC Bayern Munich is one of the strongest brands in world football with a large and continuously growing fanbase in Thailand. For decades, FC Bayern Munich has been successful on and off the pitch and is also known for its excellent youth development, making them the ideal partner for us in Thailand. We are very much looking forward to expanding our successful partnership and projects such as the FC Bayern Youth Cup and the “FC Bayern 12 Level Kurs”.

The German record champions have been very active in Asia for a long time, including youth initiatives and fan events as well as on digital channels. In recent years, the professional team has played several matches in China and Singapore. In addition, FC Bayern Munich´s international activities are driven by two foreign offices in New York and Shanghai.

Since the beginning of the partnership, Wangkanai Group’s subsidiary Sport Thai-Bavaria Co., Ltd. (STB) has been organizing the FC Bayern Youth Cup in Thailand very successfully. Between 2016 and 2020, over 15,000 teenagers took part in the regional pre-tournaments. In 2017 and 2018 the Thai team was able to win the annual World-Final of the FC Bayern Youth Cup in the Allianz Arena in Munich. The FC Bayern Youth Cup is the largest and oldest international club-organized youth football tournament series in the world.

On the Audi Digitial Summer Tour 2020, Thomas Müller thrilled an FC Bayern fan club in Thailand with a surprise video call and said thank you for a very special gift: