February 25, 2025
From Monday, February 3rd to Tuesday, February 11th, 2025, Teikyo University collaborated with Borussia Dortmund (BVB), which has an academic research partnership agreement with the university, to host a nine-day overseas sports management training program in Germany for 20 students from the university.
Led by Takuya Tsukamoto, Associate Professor the Department of Business Administration Faculty of Economics, the program took place at Signal Iduna Park, BVB's home stadium, where the participants received lectures on BVB's digital strategy, fan engagement, player development, women's football, sustainability, and esports. They also toured the stadium and the training facilities.
During the student-led fieldwork, each group conducted research on the themes of sponsorship, women's football, sustainability, and development. The students themselves contacted and conducted interviews with clubs in the Bundesliga and other categories. They also interacted with local German citizens through street interviews.
Additionally, for the first time, the participants visited FC Schalke 04 (Schalke) and received a lecture from the club's staff on the overview of stadium management. Schalke is a prestigious Bundesliga club based in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The Ruhrderby between Schalke and BVB is one of the most exciting derbies in Germany, famous for eliciting excitement from the entire region.
The participating students shared their impressions, saying, "It was my first time abroad, so I was quite nervous, but we all worked together and it was a good experience," "I was able to meet great friends and it was a lot of fun," and "I had been researching my research topic before participating in the training, so I think it deepened my learning in Germany."
In the future, the students will organize what they learned in this training and make a presentation on the results of the training in groups as a follow-up training. Teikyo University will continue to create opportunities to learn about sports business through practical experience.
For more information on collaborations with professional sports teams, click here