A Borussia Dortmund training camp is also a media event. More than 50 members of the press are in Switzerland to report about the Bundesliga runners-up and their training sessions.

Sascha Fligge, Borussia Dortmund’s Communications Director, and his deputy Arne Niehörster have their hands full these days coordinating interview schedules and supporting the press in all aspects of their work. “Over the days, we have had 60 to 65 journalists here,” said Fligge. And they are not only from Germany, but also from Switzerland, Austria, Italy or England.

When it comes to Borussia Dortmund training camps, Anne van Eickels and Thomas Hennecke are veterans, with the former working for WDR Radio and the latter for kicker magazine. Van Eickels revealed that in addition to filing radio reports for the Dortmund as well as all other ARD stations an important part of her job is to maintain contacts. “See and be seen”, so van Eickels, is crucial in a world where professional footballers see a lot of different faces each day.

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“Maintaining and establishing contacts; talking with players and club officials; holding interviews,” is how Hennecke, who’s been reporting for kicker about Borussia Dortmund for 20 years now, described his main job during a training camp, along with watching the training sessions for possible tactical changes  - and, of course, the new players.

While her colleague of the written press is watching the training sessions with a notepad under his arm, Anne van Eickels can always be seen with a microphone in her hands. The working conditions are markedly different. “At home I have a studio, here I sit in a hotel room, pull a blanket over my head to make it sound normal when I file my report,” said the 37-year-old.

Her colleague Stefan Schäuble (38) has it a bit easier. “We are here with live equipment for the first time ever. That’s the big difference to last time. A few years ago, I was sitting here with my laptop and had to cut the material myself,” said Schäuble. The Sky reporter, by the way, has an A-license in coaching, so he knows exactly what he’s reporting and talking about.

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“You can tell that the media interest in Borussia Dortmund has grown significantly. There are more colleagues here, also from abroad,” said kicker’s Thomas Hennecke, summing up BVB’s development of recent years. Twenty years ago, when he first reported about BVB, only a handful of journalists were present. “In this regard, the club has become significantly more professional, but as a result our work is also slightly more regulated than before. But that’s understandable given the interest in Borussia Dortmund.”