Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has claimed that domestic football in England has lost its romance.

Watzke underlines the foreign ownership of Manchester City and Liverpool as indicators that relationship between fans and clubs in England is not as strong as it used to be.

"I am a little bit romantic, and that is not romantic," The Guardian quotes him as saying.

"In England people seem not to be interested in this – at Liverpool they are fine for the club to belong to an American. But the German is romantic: when there is a club, he wants to have the feeling it is my club, not the club of Qatar or Abu Dhabi.

"In former times in England I think the relationship between the club and supporters was very strong. Our people come to the stadium like they are going to their family. Here, the supporters say: it's ours, it's my club."

Dortmund won the Bundesliga title in 2011 and 2012.