Bayern Munich get warm welcome in South Korea

Bayern Munich got a warm welcome as they arrived on the South Korean island of Jeju on Sunday for the first part of their pre-season trip to Asia.

Captain Manuel Neuer, Bayern's South Korea international Kim Minjae, Germany captain Joshua Kimmich and other players tirelessly signed shirts and other objects for the excited local fans and were available for selfies.

A first training session was also scheduled for Sunday as the Bundesliga and German Cup champions are set to play K-League side Jeju on Tuesday in Seogwipo and will then fly to Hong Kong for a match on Friday against England's Aston Villa.

“Everywhere we train and play, wherever fans are present, we will go and sign autographs,” Neuer was quoted by the club website as telling South Korean media.

“But even though we really appreciate that, we’re not doing the tour just for the fans. We’re also doing it for ourselves because we’re in pre-season preparing for the season. We also have important matches against Jeju and later in Hong Kong against Aston Villa. We approach this with 100% commitment and discipline.”

The travelling squad includes Konrard Laimer, Josip Stanisic and Luis Díaz who missed a training camp earlier in the week but have now completed their post-World Cup holidays.

The trip is mainly for marketing purposes, with Bayern already positioned well with offices in New York, Shanghai, Bangkok and Seoul.

“The economic rationale is to open up new markets or to become more established in those where we are convinced we can grow further. This is not a sprint; it’s a demanding, at the very least full-length marathon, if not two marathons back to back,” CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen said.

“Before you gain a foothold in a country, before you can do business there, before you can acquire local and regional sponsors, you need a presence there as a club, but football itself also needs to be attractive."

In this respect fans may be disappointed that England captain Harry Kane and France players Michael Olise and Dayot Upamecano are not part of the squad, having featured in the World Cup match for third place just two weeks ago and are still on holiday.

In addition, newly-signed Ismael Saibari, Serge Gnabry, Lennart Karl and Jamal Musiala stayed in Munich to recover from injuries and in Musiala's case from minor ankle surgery.

Munich are still among very few Bundesliga clubds going abroad in the off-season. Borussia Dortmund have just completed a tour of Japan, RB Leipzig were in South Africa in May and Paderborn plan a US trip in September.

“Of course, it’s great for the Bundesliga that we can represent it in Asia. The Bundesliga is also supposed to become more international,” board member for sport Max Eberl said.

Bayern start the season on August 22 with the German Super Cup match against Borussia Dortmund. They open the Bundesliga season six days later against VfB Stuttgart.