Dortmund hits back at Hoeness ‘regional’ slur

BERLIN - Agence France-Presse

Dortmund has been the most successful German club of the last two seasons. EPA photo

German champion Borussia Dortmund has hit back in the war-of-words after Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness dubbed its Bundesliga rivals as “regional.”

“I speak with the highest respect of Bayern’s achievements in the last few decades,” Dortmund chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke told the daily Bild. “I would hope that after the recent work by Dortmund, some would come back, but you clearly can’t expect that at the moment.”

Bayern has finished the last two seasons without winning any titles and Hoeness has stirred up the rivalry with Dortmund, who has won the Bundesliga title for the last two seasons and won the league and cup double in May.

“Dortmund is a relatively regional thing. Bayern is a global player,” the 60-year-old Hoeness declared at a digital trade fair in Cologne.

“(Dortmund) will never, never, never catch up to our enormous success over the last 30 years.

“They will have to win the German title ten times in a row to perhaps be more popular.”