Rebirth of the Republic of China: The Story of the Chaebol

(My childhood friend is getting married today. It’s not easy for people in their thirties to get married. I have to help out and have little time to write, so there is only one chapter yesterday and today)

Sun Tong did not do anything else during his trip to Europe this time. The so-called state visit was entirely handled by the ministers who came with him, and the most work he did here was to investigate the development of the sports industry in various European countries.

Especially in the football industry, the most intense competition now comes from South China and Europe.

In recent World Cups, South China has always performed well and has remained in the top three all year round. Especially after West China and other countries have all obtained independent qualifications, South China countries have basically been able to obtain five to six places in every World Cup.

With huge national investments and a scientific youth training system, the competitiveness of these countries in the World Cup is unmatched by ordinary countries.

However, as South China's "first-mover" advantage gradually disappeared, the football level of several European countries has slowly caught up with South China. Sun Tong saw this and was anxious.

Don’t forget, he had made a promise in public that he would make South China win a World Cup title during his lifetime. (The original version was that he would win the title during his reign, but since it didn’t happen, Sun Tong had to settle for the next best thing.)

"Brother, I don't think there is anything worth learning from the professional football leagues in these countries, so I will reserve my opinion."

"Are you stupid? When did I say we should learn from them to run a league? I told you to learn from Europe's 'European Club Champions League' (the predecessor of the Champions League)."

"Brother, are you planning to reform the major cup competitions in the country?"

"That's right. Nowadays, the professional leagues in the various states under the Empire are in full swing. In order to strengthen the pursuit of honor by clubs in various countries, I think it is necessary for the Football Association to add a few new competitions."

"Brother, you tell me, I'll remember!"

"Because the original cup competitions were created under the condition of poor transportation, they are no longer suitable for the current era, so the Football Association needs to cancel the original cup competitions and set up two new competitions, the South China Champions Cup and the South China Cup."

"What about the specific competition formats of these two events?"

As the prince of the South China Empire and now the Minister of Sports of the South China Empire, what Sun Fu has paid most attention to in recent years is the development of the domestic football industry.

When Sun Tong first brought him to Europe to investigate the football industry there, Sun Fu really thought that Sun Tong was going to interfere in the domestic football league.

Now, there has been a sudden turn of events. It turns out that Sun Tong wants to reform the domestic cup competitions, which makes him breathe a sigh of relief.

In fact, the topic of cup competition reform was raised a few years ago. There are many reasons why it has not been carried out. The most important one is that it did not receive the approval of Sun Tong.

Now that Sun Tong has taken the initiative to bring up this topic, Sun Fu must of course cooperate with his elder brother to get this matter done.

"The South China Cup will be based on the national teams of various states. Like the World Cup, it will be held every four years. The ranking of the South China Cup will not only affect the amount of prize money each participating team will receive, but also affect how many South China Championship Cup places each national football association can obtain."

"What did you say?"

"I plan to set the number of participating teams in the South China Champions Cup at 32. The participating teams will be divided into four tiers. The basis for the tier division is mainly based on the ranking of each club in its domestic league and their historical performance in the Champions Cup. The higher the ranking and the better the historical performance, the higher the tier they will naturally be divided into. As for the number of participating clubs from various countries, it depends on their performance in South China and North China. First of all, the team that enters the top of the South China Cup will directly get a place to participate, and the team that enters the quarterfinals will continue to get a place, and then the team that enters the semifinals will get another place, and then the team that enters the finals will get two places again, and finally the team that wins the championship will get the last two places alone."

"If it is arranged this way, then wouldn't the winning team be able to get six places at once?"

"What, too much?"

“Wouldn’t this be unfair to other states?”

"What's so fair about this? The number of quotas depends on the performance of the national team. Isn't this the greatest fairness for those states that started professional football relatively late?"

"this..."

"Just follow my instructions. What you need to do next is to prepare for these two events as soon as possible, especially the Champions League. I don't want to let the Europeans take the lead."

"Don't worry, big brother. It's not difficult to organize these two events. But what is the appropriate amount of prize money for the two events?"

"It depends on the situation. It mainly depends on how much money the Football Association can make from these two events. If they make more, they will give out more bonuses. If they make less, they will give out less. At the same time, the royal family will also take out a portion of the funds and incorporate them into the bonuses. By the way, your Football Association should stop blocking cross-border transfers of players. Nowadays, each club has to be responsible for its own profits and losses, so the Football Association should not interfere in the issue of player transfers."

"understand!"