Rebirth 1994: Football Situation

Chapter 498 Which is more important?

"I think everyone should know that the biggest task of our Football Association this year is the upcoming World Cup."

One day in April [-], in the office building of the BJ Chinese Football Association, a meeting of all members of the Football Association was being held, including the head coach of the national team Yugoslav Milutinovic and the new FIFA Executive Committee, the honorary member of the Chinese Football Association Vice-chairman Pei Wei also appeared on the list.

Chairman Xu Bing was the first to speak: "The World Cup is very important and represents the overall image of our Chinese football in the world, so it will be our most important task this year. However, the league must not relax! Coach Milu, is It is out of this consideration, so the national team will gather at the beginning of May, is there any problem?"

"No problem." Milu nodded: "The European League will end at that time. Instead of letting domestic players gather together and wait for overseas players to gather, it is better to let them find their status in the league... and this There is a very favorable condition for us to prepare for the World Cup, that is, the World Cup is held in our neighbors Japan and South Korea, which is very beneficial to us in terms of adaptation, and we don’t have to worry about finding a good warm-up opponent .”

"In this regard, I'm afraid you need to discuss more with Pei Wei, our new FIFA Executive Committee." Xu Bing said with a smile: "In our Chinese Football Association, he is probably the person who is most familiar with European and South American teams. Yes, and he has a lot of connections no matter in Europe or South America! He will definitely be able to find a suitable warm-up opponent... After this meeting, he will become an advisor to the Chinese national team, that is to say, he will become your advisor Colleagues, I hope you can cooperate well.”

Milu shrugged his shoulders, expressing his attitude. He has observed in the past few years that the coach of the Chinese national team is not just able to lead the team. When dealing with people from the Football Association, he will naturally not fight against the Football Association in this regard. He is just a consultant, no big deal.

Pei Wei smiled slightly. He probably knew what Milu was thinking, but he had confidence in himself because he knew the coach who was called "the old man like a fan" by the Chinese media very well. The reason why the foreign coaches who worked with him got along so well - from the media in his previous life, he knew the personalities of these coaches almost as well as himself, and he knew how to impress them.

There is not much opposition within the Football Association to let Pei Wei enter the national team. First of all, it is not the first time that Pei Wei has entered the national team to help. In 98, he and Benitez joined the national team together. As a result, the salted fish of the national team turned around. In the dangerous situation of one loss and one draw, they won four wins and one draw in one breath. The miraculous performance of entering the World Cup finals one round ahead of schedule is still fresh in the memory of many people. The performance in the World Cup is also fresh. Absolutely not bad, the performance of the Chinese team in the 98 World Cup is the best among the four Asian teams. Secondly, as Pei Wei himself said, his status as the honorary vice chairman is really embarrassing in the Football Association. Since I can't participate in the decision-making of the Football Association, I just go to the national team. I still have some business to do. In addition, after all, it is the World Cup finals. No one could compete with Pei Wei, which directly led to this seemingly "good job" falling on Pei Wei's head.

"As for the national team, Vice Chairman Pei and Head Coach Milu will manage it. As for the domestic league, Vice Chairman Wan is still in charge of the management, and each department performs its own duties." Xu Bing continued: "In the past two or three years, due to The impact of the Asian Cup, the Olympic Games, the World Cup and other major competitions, our league has seen a sub-growth in attendance for three consecutive years. Although this is unavoidable, we cannot use this as a reason to find new highlights to stimulate the competition. The desire of the fans to watch the game, the league department should tap the potential and see if there is any better way."

"I don't think this is just the case in the Chinese league." A young staff member of the league department stood up, pushed his eyes on the bridge of his nose, and said slowly: "I'm very impressed with the five major leagues in Europe. The attendance rate of the league in the past few years has been calculated, and it is basically the same as the second half of the 90s... Although it was also affected by the Olympics and the World Cup during this period, it is very puzzling that their attendance rate has not increased. !"

"Oh? Why do you say that?" Xu Bing raised his eyebrows and said with interest.Pei Wei also looked at the young man with great interest.

"Because in the past two or three years, the transfer market in the European League has been quite crazy! Real Madrid's continuous introduction of the Portuguese Figo and the Frenchman Zidane have both broken the transfer fee of 5000 million US dollars maintained by the Italian Vieri The highest record! Not to mention countless other transfer transactions of tens of millions! According to the laws of market economy, such a large-scale investment by the club will definitely stimulate fans to spend on the spot. After all, no matter who it is, after seeing the team they support spend After paying a huge sum of money to introduce a player, everyone wants to watch this player's performance live! However, despite such a large investment, the attendance rate of the five major European leagues still has not seen a significant increase... This can only show one thing. In terms of attendance, they have reached a limit, and it is difficult to have a significant increase!"

"However, the five major European leagues have been developed for more than 100 years. During this long period of time, each team has basically developed people who can become fans in their own cities! And our league has only progressed to ninth. Over the past few years, I don’t think the development of Chinese fans has reached its limit, after all, an ordinary city of ours can basically reach a population of one million, and a city with such a large population is basically a big city in Europe!” Pei Wei suddenly said that he didn't intend to speak at the meeting of the Football Association, but this young man's speech aroused his great interest. He didn't expect that there would be such a researcher on European football in the Football Association. People, and still so young - it is estimated that the Football Association recruited talents from the society some time ago.

It is precisely because of this that he plans to discuss it with this young man: "For example, Dortmund, the city of Dortmund in the Ruhr area where Dortmund is located, has a population of just over 60, but their average attendance rate exceeds [-]! More What's more, European football has a long history. They can basically have a professional team in any city, and some even have many teams! In China, on average, only one team can be allocated to a province! A province has How many people? Even if only one in a thousand people become fans, we don’t need to worry about attendance!”

"Indeed." The young man turned to Pei Wei, with a look of respect on his face: "What Vice Chairman Pei said is true, but we must also consider another point - when it comes to average income, we still have Far inferior to Europe! For a middle-class family in Europe, what the whole family pays for watching the team they support may be only a small part of their income, while the annual income of a middle-class in China may be For more than 1 yuan, taking Yunjia Tianyu as an example, their tickets are considered to be mid-priced in the league, and the price of the package ticket is about... around [-] yuan, right?"

Pei Wei nodded, and the young man went on to say: "But in fact, going to the stadium to watch the game will definitely not just consume the tickets! Whether it is a small flag or a horn, you have to pay a little price. I am thirsty during the game." , of course they also have to drink a few bottles of soda, and some even buy a set of club jerseys... In this way, in fact, for football, a fan may spend around 1000 yuan a year! This is already their income Not every fan is willing to spend so much, because they can watch the game on TV for free! What's more, many fans are students, and they don't have the ability to create wealth."

"That's right." Pei Wei couldn't help but nodded. It seems that this young man really understands the laws of the market and the current economic situation: "The income level of football fans is not as good as that in Europe. It is in the development stage, which directly leads to the low level of fan consumption. Even the most loyal fans must first consider the problems of their own lives-this is the habit of our Chinese people. Only after we have material enjoyment will we consider the issue of spiritual life. But I emphasize that our population advantage does not fail to consider this issue. In fact, when the number increases to a certain level, it can also make up for the gap in consumption capacity. After all, compared to the fact that more than half of the population in a city in Europe is a fan, our gap is quite large, so we need to develop more fans, and let more people who don’t care about football join the ranks of fans! As we With the development of the national economy, the material requirements of the people can basically be met, and then they will naturally start to have spiritual needs! Especially young people, I believe that the charm of the world's number one movement will definitely impress them, and This World Cup will be the best opportunity!"

"As long as we can achieve outstanding results in this World Cup, we will definitely cultivate a large number of new fans! After more and more fans like to watch football, more and more fans will go to watch football on the spot , the income of the club will also increase! With more income, more investment can be made to train players. If there are more good players, the performance of the national team will be better. If the performance of the national team is better, the fans will There will be more! This is a virtuous circle, so I have always believed that whether it is the league or the national team, there is no distinction! The two complement each other and are equally important!"

PS: I'm sorry, a huge mistake... I actually forgot the Chinese football champion Li Huitang... I kowtow to apologize here, I hope his old man's spirit in the sky will not blame me...

(End of this chapter)