Franco Di Santo (l.) and Co. stopped off in Beijing on their way to Changchun
Franco Di Santo (l.) and Co. stopped off in Beijing on their way to Changchun

Bremen head to China for pre-season tour

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Beijing - Some 28 years after their last excursion to the Far East, SV Werder Bremen set off on a week-long pre-season tour of China on Monday afternoon.

‘Two friendlies lined up’

After brief stopovers in Istanbul and Beijing, the Bremen squad arrived in Changchun, the capital and largest city of the Jilin province in the northeast of the country, at around 16:00 CEST on Tuesday.

“We hope to increase the popularity of the Bundesliga and of Werder Bremen during this trip,“ said CEO Klaus Filbry shortly before take-off from Bremen airport. “We’re obviously hoping to establish contact with as many sponsors as possible. It would be nice if we came to some sort of long-term arrangement.”

Aside from cultivating sponsorship relationships, die Grünen will be putting in plenty of hours on the training pitch in the Far East. “We have a very long time to prepare for next season, which enables us to go on this trip and make the most of sponsorship opportunities,” explained Filbry. “But we’ve also got two friendlies lined up and will train regularly in China. The week has been arranged in close collaboration with the coaching staff.”

Bremen play Chinese Super League champions Chanchun Yatai at Changchun City Stadium on 2 July, before facing top-flight outfit Tianjin TEDA FC at TEDA Football Stadium three days later.