The Godfather of Football

After the European Footballer of the Year selected by French Football Magazine and the World Footballer of the Year organized by FIFA were merged, UEFA has actually been secretly thinking about how to get some benefits from FIFA.

Don't think of Platini and Blatter as the same person. Although they wear the same pants, and many people even think that Platini will be the most powerful candidate to succeed Blatter, he is still the president of UEFA now, at least he has to consider the interests of UEFA.

Of course, in name, UEFA now has a very good relationship with FIFA, and it is under the jurisdiction of the latter, so it is naturally impossible to go against FIFA. Those reporters said that UEFA wants to start a player award selection by itself, which is absolutely wrong and will not happen, at least not in the short term.

UEFA finally came up with a good compromise, which is to integrate the annual UEFA selection.

In the past, UEFA's annual selection had five awards, namely the best goalkeeper of the year, the best defender, the best midfielder, the best forward and the best player, but now they have integrated these awards, cooperated with the European Sports Media Alliance, launched the European Best Player Award, and cancelled all other awards.

On the surface, this is an integration of UEFA's annual selection, and considering that the annual selection has existed for a long time, FIFA can't say anything about such integration, but in fact, the so-called European Best Player after the integration is equivalent to the European Footballer of the Year selected by the French Football Magazine in the past.

Why do you say that?

Please look at the selection method of the European Best Player. Through the cooperation of the European Sports Media Alliance, football journalists from 53 countries and regions under UEFA will vote and then decide the top three, but there is no ranking order for these three players. The top three players will be at the UEFA Champions League group stage draw ceremony and the awards ceremony. 53 journalists from 53 countries and regions who have accepted UEFA's invitation will vote on the spot to decide the ranking.

Have you found something fishy?

The entire operation process is actually almost the same as the European Footballer of the Year selection process of French Football Magazine, but at the same time, some current FIFA selection practices are added, such as finalizing the top three in advance, but this time UEFA did not announce it at the award ceremony, because many fans accused FIFA of black box operations.

So, UEFA directly told you this time that I am voting on the spot, and you can see the voting situation as long as you watch the live broadcast, so as to maximize its own fairness and justice.

Of course, it is definitely impossible to achieve absolute fairness and justice.

Just like in the top three list announced by UEFA before, the main midfielder of the Champions League champion Barcelona, ​​Xavi, the top star of Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo, and the top star of Tottenham Hotspur, Messi.

There is indeed some controversy over these three places. Xavi and Iniesta have always been the focus of fans' disputes. Both Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur did not perform well in the Champions League last season, but Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi's performance in the league was astonishing.

Among the other seven players in the top ten in the first round, Tottenham Hotspur has two players, Ribery and Thiago Silva, and Barcelona also has Fabregas, Iniesta and Pique. Fabregas was shortlisted because of his outstanding performance in Tottenham Hotspur.

So, on the surface, Barcelona is the number one winner, but in fact Tottenham Hotspur has the most shortlisted players.

There is no point in calculating this. The key is the competition for the top three.

Unlike the award ceremony in the past, which used to be held while awarding prizes, this time it was straight to the point. The entire venue immediately became tense and intense. Everyone wanted to know who was the winner of the first European Player of the Year, so the atmosphere of the entire Grimaldi Conference Center immediately became very tense.

The final vote count was announced, and Messi was far ahead with 38 votes, winning the first European Player of the Year award!

There was a warm applause at the scene. Perhaps many people at the scene were dissatisfied with the result, and perhaps after the announcement, many fans would think that there was a shady deal in the selection, but in any case, this was the result of the on-site voting.

From the perspective of conspiracy theory, perhaps such a selection could indeed be controlled, but from a rational perspective, who could control so many people, especially these people were a group of reporters!

Fifty-three reporters, if UEFA really wanted to control their votes, how much would it cost? And as long as one of them announced the truth, UEFA's award would completely lose its credibility, so the so-called black box operation could only appear in conspiracy theories, not in reality.

The reality is that in the eyes of all reporters, Messi's performance is indeed better, even if he has not won any decent honors in Tottenham Hotspur and the national team, but he has indeed performed better.

Messi first hugged Ye Qiu, Ribery and other club management and teammates, walked up to the podium, accepted Platini's congratulations, and then faced the microphone. The world's top star who has won so many awards was no longer nervous in front of the microphone as he was the first time.

"I am very grateful to all the journalists who selected me. Thank you very much. I also want to thank my teammates. Without your help, I would not have won this award. And I need to thank Tottenham Hotspur, the club I play for. , thank you to all the staff at this club for making Tottenham Hotspur so successful!”

"I especially want to thank my most respected head coach, Mr. Ye Qiu, and all Tottenham Hotspur coaches. It is your efforts that have created such a competitive Tottenham Hotspur team. It is you who continue to inspire me and urge me to keep making progress. I will do my best not to let you down. I will cherish everything I have now and strive to continue this successful tradition!”

When Messi raised the trophy high above his head with both hands, the audience burst into warm applause.

Messi held the trophy with satisfaction and walked off the podium. At the same time, Platini also grandly announced the official start of the draw ceremony for the 2011/2012 Champions League group stage.

Among the top 32 teams in the Champions League this time, the Premier League still occupies four seats, namely Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City. What is interesting is that, in addition to Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United Outside the seeded teams, Liverpool was placed in the second pot, while Manchester City entered the third pot, which also created a lot of suspense for the entire draw ceremony.

In addition, the teams in the second tier include AC Milan, Lyon, Valencia, Villarreal and Marseille, and the third tier includes Ajax, Leverkusen and Manchester City. , Lille and other teams, and the fourth tier is Dortmund and Naples, two teams from the four major leagues.

Since the announcement of the divisions, everyone has been looking forward to the draw ceremony, because everyone is guessing whether there will be a duel between the groups of death? Know that it is absolutely possible!

As a guest of the lottery, Figo was the first to take the stage. His task was to draw the eight teams in the first pot. Regarding this, Figo said that he was the easiest, "This is also the least likely thing to offend people!" "

After the draw, Tottenham Hotspur secured the seeding spot in Group E.

The person who drew the second pot was Bobby Charlton, the famous English football star. This Manchester United star said that his luck has always been good, and what he hopes to do most is to draw Tottenham Hotspur to death. group.

"If possible, I hope to draw a team that can beat Tottenham Hotspur 8-0 into Group E!"

This remark immediately received a burst of laughter from the audience. Everyone knew that it was a joke, but Bobby Charlton obviously held a grudge against Tottenham Hotspur who slaughtered Manchester United 8-0 at home. Everyone is even thinking that it would be interesting if AC Milan, the strongest team, is really drawn.

But it turns out that Bobby Charlton was drawn by Valencia in La Liga. After losing David Silva, David Villa and Juan Mata, this team may be in trouble. It is difficult to pose a threat to Tottenham Hotspur.

After seeing the lottery results, Bobby Charlton expressed his regret with a smile. However, after the game, he took the initiative to pass by Ye Qiu and hugged Ye Qiu to show that there was no problem between him and Ye Qiu. Ye Qiu also had full respect for this respected senior.

The guest of the draw for the third tier of teams was Gullit, the football legend from the Netherlands. He said that he was a fan of Ye Qiu and hoped to help Tottenham Hotspur draw a weak team. But the problem is, this guy drew Out came Bayer Leverkusen.

There was a burst of laughter at the scene, and everyone can guess that when the result comes out, some people will say, ah, that’s right, it’s a new player facing the old club again, because Tottenham Hotspur has been so popular recently. The purple midfielder Vidal is a former Leverkusen player.

In fact, with the turnover of players in European football so frequent, the draw of almost any event has a very high possibility of players facing their old clubs, which is almost impossible to avoid.

The teams in the fourth pot were drawn by German legend Matthaus, and everyone knew that after drawing Bayer Leverkusen in the third pot, it was impossible for Dortmund in the fourth pot to enter Tottenham Hotspur. Which group, unless Ye Qiu is really unlucky and is drawn to Naples, otherwise, he will encounter teams from the Czech Republic, Romania, Belgium, and even Cyprus, which will hardly pose a threat to Tottenham Hotspur .

Facts have proved that Tottenham Hotspur are not so unlucky, and the winner is Genk of Belgium.

Valencia, Leverkusen, Genk, strictly speaking, Tottenham Hotspur's Group E is still very competitive. Although Tottenham Hotspur is the dominant one, Valencia, Leverkusen and Genk, the three teams will fight for the second place in the group. Among them, Valencia and Leverkusen have the best chance of winning, and Genk is the weakest.

Of course, this kind of stubbornness will also make the Tottenham Hotspur game difficult to play, because all teams will try their best to score points or lose when they encounter Tottenham Hotspur. Gotta look better.

Relatively speaking, Manchester City's situation is worse. They have drawn Bayern Munich, Villarreal and Naples. It is a real group of death. These four teams come together to obviously defeat Manchester City. rhythm.

Liverpool's luck is not very good. Marseille, Olympiacos and Dortmund are also in a fiercely competitive group. However, with the strength of the Benitez Cup king and Liverpool's dominance this season, it is estimated that they will advance from the group stage. It's not very difficult.

Manchester United was in the best situation, and Ferguson had the best luck. He met Benfica, Basel and Galati Steel from Romania, which was almost to keep Manchester United out of the group stage.

"Do you believe it or not? There will be a lot of conspiracy theories in the newspapers tomorrow morning!" Ye Qiu said with a smile, "Manchester United must be in bad luck. Maybe some people will say that this is Platini trying to kill Manchester United. Guaranteed to advance to the finals!”

Peter Kenyon, who was sitting next to Ye Qiu, also laughed after hearing this. This kind of conspiracy theory is actually not very convincing. Of course, there will definitely be control over the schedule. After all, if there is a strong dialogue early, the strong will All teams were wiped out, and the teams that reached the finals were all unpopular teams. Who would watch such a game?

But it’s certainly not as outrageous as the conspiracy theories say!

"In my opinion, Manchester United and Liverpool have no big problem in advancing, but Manchester City may stop in the group stage!" After all, Peter Kenyon has been playing football for so many years, and he still has this perspective.

Manchester City's biggest problem is its ability to play away games and fight tough battles. Mancini's European war results are very unsatisfactory, especially among the head coaches of top teams. He is considered relatively poor, and this time he encountered When it comes to Bayern Munich, Villarreal and Naples, there is really little hope of promotion unless he can overcome his tendency to bully the weak and fear the strong.

Relatively speaking, Ye Qiu doesn't have much worry about the Group E he is in. As long as he plays normally according to Tottenham Hotspur's strength, there will be little suspense about advancing to the top spot in the group. This is also what he thinks about his team. a kind of confidence.

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When all the teams participating in the Champions League group stage appeared in Monaco and participated in the draw ceremony, the World Football Economic Forum also began to be held in full swing at the Zhenhua Hotel in Stratford. The venue here is more beautiful than the Hilton Hotel It is spacious, the facilities are more complete, and the service level is also higher.

Because Paul Newman broke the news in advance, this football economic forum also attracted huge attention from the outside world. Although reporters, fans, players, and even some idlers were not allowed to enter the hotel at will, the all-pervasive reporters still found it. got some opportunities.

For example, a British reporter was well prepared. They booked a hotel room very early, checked into the hotel, and then looked for opportunities to spy on military intelligence. They soon received news that Roma had introduced Pia from Lyon. Nicky.

Before the official announcement, the British Daily Telegraph had already leaked the news in advance. The transfer fee was 10 million euros. What is even more amazing is that this transfer started from the contact between the two parties to the end. After completing the transfer and completing all the formalities, the whole process only took fifteen minutes.

What kind of efficiency is this?

Completing a 10 million euro transfer in fifteen minutes is simply amazing speed and efficiency.

Lyon's sports manager Lacombe confirmed the news when he officially announced the transfer at 17 p.m., saying that it was indeed completed within fifteen minutes, but said that the team was not in a hurry and did not make a hasty decision. "All negotiations were conducted with the participation of player agents, and they even reached a personal treatment contract with Roma on the spot."

"In the Football Economic Forum, there are many such transfers. Both parties have understood each other and may even have contact. It is very normal for the transfer to be finalized on the spot through the Football Economic Forum. I even encountered Get an agent and handle three player transfers at the same time, all within 20 minutes!”

The Football Economic Forum has always given people a very mysterious feeling, because the media and reporters are not allowed to enter the venue. Even the players, the protagonists of the transfer, are also denied entry to the venue, but they can contact their The broker maintains contact and communication and understands the status and details of the negotiations.

The players are also very satisfied with this method, because certainly no player wants to negotiate directly with the old club and the new club face-to-face, so it would be better to go through an agent.

As the Football Economic Forum has become increasingly popular in the past few years, more and more football clubs, agents and even sponsors are participating. Now it has become a global football event, with almost every continent , most countries with professional leagues will have teams sending representatives to participate.

For example, in the Chinese Super League, more and more professional teams have participated in this event in the past two years, and they will also introduce some powerful foreign players or foreign owners through some official channels and their own private channels. coach.

The same applies to Japan, South Korea, and even the American Major League. The latter's football market has become increasingly popular in recent years.

The arrival of the Football Economic Forum was undoubtedly the first shot at Zhenhua Hotel, but what really made all reporters pay attention to this hotel and this building was the big event that Paul Newman said was going to be announced.

The reporters have been like ants in a hot pot, sitting around outside the hotel, waiting for official news, and they have been waiting for three days.

It was not until the last day of the Football Economics Forum, which was the morning of August 31st, that they received news that a press conference would be held in the large conference hall of Zhenhua Hotel in the afternoon, and specific news would be announced to the public at that time.