Sporting legends Bayer and ASPIRE sign agreement to share ideas and facilities

Bayer Sport in Leverkusen, Germany, an umbrella organization of 29 sports clubs with more than 50,000 members and more than 20 teams in the highest German Leagues, has signed a co-operation agreement with ASPIRE, Doha's Academy for Sports Excellence. The agreement will see the two bodies share know how and facilities.

Having been established to train Qatar's best young athletes for future competition, ASPIRE has already gained an international profile on the sporting stage. Working with Bayer, whose principal partners include TSV Bayer 04, a club which provides top-level competitors in sports ranging from fencing to volleyball, and Bayer Leverkusen, recent finalists in football's Champions League, ASPIRE intends to add a new layer of resources and opportunities for student athletes.

Following the agreement, Bayer's youth football players will come to Doha for a tournament and training camp during the winter. Additionally, Bayer's athletics club is planning to visit Qatar next spring, while ASPIRE's soccer students could simultaneously be heading for a training camp with Bayer Leverkusen.

ASPIRE sports manager, Dr. Andreas Bleicher said: "ASPIRE's aim is to develop a pool of top-class athletes who are able to compete at top European clubs and in major championships around the world. International training and competition help our student athletes to progress towards this goal, and our partnership with Bayer has been developed with this aim in mind.

"Our agreement will provide ASPIRE's young footballers with regular access to the top soccer coaches within the Bayer organization, and our athletics students will benefit from Olympic coaching in their respective disciplines. It is a global partnership which looks set to provide strong returns in the future."

Dr. Bleicher concluded: "We see our partnership with Bayer as a meeting of equals - we can learn from the training and development which has fashioned Leverkusen's Olympic athletes and Champions League stars, while Bayer and its member clubs can benefit from the inspirational vision behind ASPIRE, and from the state-of-the-art technology with which we are educating our talented students."

Meinolf Sprink, the sports coordinator of Bayer AG, said: "We are proud and privileged to have agreed this partnership. Global sporting partnerships of this kind provide an important bridge between different sporting cultures, and a major growth opportunity for young athletes."