The friendly match will take place on May 21 in Jakarta's Main National Stadium. FC Bayern, the champion of this year's German Bundesliga and the German Cup, will visit Indonesia as part of their trip to Asia, which is at the same time the farewell tour of the team's goal keeper Oliver Kahn, arguably one of the best goal keepers worldwide.

"This is a very good sign for Indonesia, since FC Bayern, one of the world's most popular football clubs, has discovered Indonesia as an important fan base. We hope to delight thousands of football fans in the stadium or at home watching the match on TV. Sponsoring this match is in line with Allianz Indonesia's strong commitment to the local community," said Jens Reisch, CEO of Allianz Life Indonesia.

Various side events will take place on the day of the match between Timnas Indonesia and FC Bayern such as the launch of FC Bayern's first Indonesian fan club.

Munich's Allianz Arena has been home to FC Bayern since May 2005. The connection was intensified by the partnership between FC Bayern and Allianz. The club has a base of over 1,900 fan clubs worldwide with over 135,000 registered members. It is one of the largest sports clubs in the world today. Its successes include 21 championship titles and 14 German Cup victories as well as winning the Champions League. Beyond Europe, the team also brought home the Intercontinental Cup twice.

"Allianz Indonesia's local sponsoring of FC Bayern goes very well with Allianz Group's premier partnership and the Allianz Arena as FC Bayern's home base," said Steven Althaus, head of Marketing Communication at Allianz SE.

The partnership with FC Bayern Munich supports Allianz's existing international sponsorship strategy and reinforces Allianz's position as a global player in the insurance and financial services sector. "Allianz is an international financial services provider; it is supporting FC Bayern, a football club which is also regarded as a global player with an international focus," Althaus added.

Allianz has reinforced its sponsorship commitment to FC Bayern with a comprehensive sponsorship package up to 2010. Besides FC Bayern, Allianz is the global partner of Formula One, the International Paralympic Committee and the German National Paralympic Committee.

As for Indonesia, other than being the main sponsor for the friendly match, Allianz Indonesia has initiated the founding of FC Bayern's first fan club in the country.

"This official fan club is open to all people in Indonesia. It is a great community to give FC Bayern fans in Indonesia a home and inform them about latest developments of their favorite team. We will support this club also in future and are planning to carry out further activities related to Allianz and FC Bayern," said Victor Sandjaja, CEO of the general insurance company Allianz Utama.

The fan club's launch in May 2008 will be attended by FC Bayern's players and officials. Allianz will also establish a web forum for the club. Members can purchase official merchandise, join the club's indoor soccer team and participate in other FC Bayern activities.

Allianz started its operations in Indonesia with a representative office in 1981. In 1989, Allianz established PT Asuransi Allianz Utama Indonesia, a general insurance company. Furthermore, Allianz entered the Indonesian life insurance market by opening PT Asuransi Allianz Life Indonesia in 1996.

Today, Allianz in Indonesia is one of the leading insurance groups in the market who has been trusted to serve more than 620,000 individual and corporate customers. Allianz Utama and Allianz Life Indonesia draw on support from nearly 8,000 dedicated financial consultants and operate a wide service network of over 80 offices in more than 44 locations nationwide.

Through its insurance operations in Asia, the Allianz Group employs more than 13,000 staff in 15 markets across the Asia Pacific region.

As with all content published on this site, these statements are subject to our Forward-Looking Statement disclaimer, provided on the right.