Borussia Dortmund Youth Sector coaches in Niklas Flechsig (leftmost) and Volkan Ozkan (rightmost) flank Selrahco president Charles Lim and Cebu Football Club owner Ugur Tasci who are holding BVB’s official jersey in Bundesliga during a presser on Thursday. | Photo by Glendale Rosal
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu Football Club and the Borussia Dortmund (BVB) see a potential partnership for the development of football in the Philippines following the successful five-day football camp at the Dynamic Herb Sports stadium,
home of the Cebu Football Club that started last June 19, 2023.
Around 30 youngsters, whose ages range from 5 to 18 years old, took part in the five-day football camp organized by BVB in partnership with Selrahco PR Agency, Sportfive, and CFC. It was supervised by Borussia Dortmund Youth Sector coaches in Niklas Flechsig and Volkan Ozkan.
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“We want to continue, with Borussia Dortmund. We want to have more like this camp and join long-term projects. That’s what we’re working right now with Dortmund Asian coordinator. There is no definite time, but we want it to happen in the future,” said CFC owner Ugur Tasci during a presser on Thursday, June 22, at the Summit Galleria Hotel.
He was joined by Flechsig, Ozkan, Selrahco PR Agency’s Charles Lim, and Sportfive’s Hak-Chan Yun during the presser.
“Everything was too fast to happen during the camp, the time was too short to prepare, but here we are today, the fourth day of the camp, tomorrow will be the last day. The kids really enjoyed, so I thank Dortmund for making this camp happen, although this camp was little, but everything starts with a little step,” said Tasci.
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For Flechsig, they loved the enthusiasm and energy of the Cebuano young footballers, who took part in the camp, and they believed that this would be an important foundation to further develop football not just in Cebu, but in the Philippines.
“It’s our first time here in the Philippines and get in touch with Filipino football. The kids are great, they love football and they are very energetic and compete with each other. I think that’s the most important foundation to grow football in the Philippines. If you continue this, and find kids love football, that’s the start for growth,” said Flechsig who is based in Tokyo, Japan.
It’s the first time a prestigious and successful football club as Borussia Dortmund to come to the Philippines to hold a youth football camp, and fortunately, they set foot first in Cebu.
Flechsig and Ozkan said that they were willing to hold football camps anywhere in the Philippines as long as there would be an opportunity to host one.
For Tasci, part of their partnership would be holding more football camps in the future in Manila, Iloilo, and other parts of the country.
“I think it’s that the opportunity came up, there was the opportunity to do it in Cebu, it doesn’t matter where we start, but how to start. I think the potential is there, the opportunity was there so, let’s do it,” said Flechsig.
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