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Urawa Reds' activities may be firmly rooted in the local community but they are also spreading out strongly from there across Japan and overseas as well. Football, the international sport, is a great vehicle for international exchange, a way for Japan to learn about the world and also to tell the world about Japan. Reds are fast becoming active members of the international football community.
The partnership agreement with FC Bayern Munich plays a core role in that. This equal partnership was signed in January 2006 with the following main provisions:
* First team friendlies against each other in both countries
* Sharing of scouting information
* Accepting each other's players for training and the development of exchange systems for youth players
* Mutual support in merchandising
* Friendly matches and training camp cooperation for each team category
* Cooperation in promotional activities
A lot was achieved in the first year. Reds played Bayern at Saitama Stadium on July 31st, 2006, a match preceded by a game between Reds and Bayern Old Boys that delighted many longstanding football fans. The Reds U-15 team visited Germany in August and won an invitation tournament hosted by Bayern. Some of the boys had trained abroad before but this was their first time to go overseas as a team.
Red Voltage, the official Reds shop, now has a corner for Bayern goods and the official Reds web site is linked to Bayern's Japanese language page.
Bayern celebrated Reds' J. League championship victory on December 2 with a large-screen, congratulatory message at their own home match at the Allianz Arena.
It was wonderful timing for Reds to win the J. League in the very first year of the partnership. Urawa Reds are fast becoming the best-known Japanese team in Europe. The invitation for Reds to play in the Austrian city of Salzburg in February was also mediated by Bayern. The further strengthening of exchange and meetings between club officials already promises to make the partnership even closer.
The Heart-full Club has meanwhile been reaching out into Asia since 2005. The Heart-full Club in Thailand project started with the goal of encouraging children who had suffered in the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 by playing football together with them in Phuket. That is now in its third year. The first team will also play official matches across Asia this year in the ACL and A3 tournaments. The Heart-full Club is preparing special projects to tie up with those matches as well.


	SAITAMA CITY CUP 2006: Urawa Reds v FC Bayern Munich


	Mitsunori Fujiguchi	Karl-Heinz Rummenigge