Emerging Bollywood Star Kartik Aaryan Endorses Bundesliga Dream India 

Rising Bollywood star Kartik Aaryan has become a celebrity endorser for the Bundesliga Dream India campaign to hunt for the next generation of Indian youth footballers. 

Aaryan, 34, has been in the limelight since 2011, and is also known for his football playing skills during celebrity matches. The actor is poised to play a key role in spreading the word about the campaign on his various social media platforms, which have over 44 million followers. 

Sharing his sentiments about Bundesliga Dream India, Kartik Aaryan, said, “I believe this is what India needs to elevate the level of youth football. I have the same passion and dream for football as the Bundesliga does, and together we want to instil belief into aspiring young footballers and tell them that no dream is too small. We want to provide them with a platform to pursue their passion and chase their dreams”.

Bundesliga International Chief Marketing Officer, Peer Naubert, added, “We are delighted to welcome Kartik as an ambassador for Bundesliga Dream India. His love for football shone through when he was in Munich (last month to catch the Bayern Munich-Borussia Dortmund match), and we believe that with his support, we can elevate the project to new levels. The Bundesliga has long been considered the home for Asian players, and we are excited to work with BigHit, Sony Sports Network, and with Kartik over the next seasons to establish a route for young, talented Indian players to train and play in a Bundesliga academy.”

The Bundesliga Dream project involves a collaboration with BigHit, where they will select six elite squads from the U-13 and U-15 age categories respectively to travel to Germany for an extensive training camp experience. 

The long-term goal of the  project is to give opportunities for talented young Indian footballers to pit their abilities in a Bundesliga junior academy environment. The content of these football players’ travels from the national championships in India to the training camp in Germany will be shared on the Sony Sports Network and the network of Bundesliga local partners.

According to ASN data, youth football in the Indian sponsorship market has seen investment of a mere US$1.63m since Q322, despite accounting for a fifth of the total sponsorship investment for Asian football sponsorship and being the second highest market for the sporting platform. Most of the key deals in Indian youth football are between US$118k and US$239k for the prestigious Subroto Cup.