Chapter 249 - 66: When Wang Shuo the Magician Shows Off: "Marco, Do You Want to Score Tonight?

Hummels would occasionally stay behind, but not as often as Subotic.

However, when the topic of young models came up, many people perked up.

Thanks to Heidi Krumm!

After skyrocketing to fame during the ’06 World Cup, the world-class supermodel Heidi Krumm launched various modeling competitions in Germany, attracting immense attention and creating a sensation.

That was how Lina Gerk became famous.

Many other young models were also starting to emerge.

Moreover, female stars in the European entertainment industry loved being associated with football.

Dortmund wasn’t a big city, so there was basically no nightlife.

As soon as evening fell, all the shops closed.

While there were bars and nightclubs downtown, they weren’t very impressive in scale.

If you wanted to meet those young models or female celebrities, you had to go to the nightclubs in a big city like Dusseldorf.

"Wang, if you ever want to go, just let me know ahead of time! I’ll make the arrangements. There’ll be a whole line of beauties waiting for you to pick from," Foyelner called out.

The guy had come up through the Bayern youth academy and had spent his fair share of time fooling around in nightclubs.

But Wang Shuo’s focus right now wasn’t on nightclubs.

And it certainly wasn’t on women.

It was on the UEFA Europa League.

Dortmund had played a few friendlies with mixed results.

The players were still in the process of adapting to Klopp’s tactics.

The main issue was a lack of chemistry.

That was a huge problem.

If even two players failed to execute their roles properly, the effectiveness of Klopp’s tactics would be drastically reduced.

Therefore, Klopp’s plan was to rely on Wang Shuo’s offense during this period.

He would use the offense to pressure their opponents and mask the team’s issues.

The prize money for the UEFA Europa League wasn’t actually that much.

Even winning the whole thing only netted a little over seven million euros.

Just for making it to the group stage, each team received 650,000 euros. The appearance fee per match was only 60,000 euros, with 140,000 for a win and only 70,000 for a draw.

Even winning all six group stage matches, including appearance fees, would only earn them 1.85 million euros, with another 200,000 for advancing to the round of 32.

That brought the total to exactly 2 million euros.

So, it was truly a pathetic amount.

But for a rebuilding Dortmund, getting eliminated in the qualifying rounds would be a terrible blow.

This was especially true considering their opponent in the third qualifying round was Danish Landes.

Incidentally, just yesterday, on July 20th, the German Super Cup was held at the Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg.

Tuchel’s Mainz gave it their all but still lost 1-2 to VfL Wolfsburg.

Schürrle scored a goal for them.

However, this competition wasn’t an official one, but rather an exhibition match.

Unlike the other top three leagues, Germany didn’t actually have a so-called Super Cup.

The German Football Association had created a Super Cup in 1987, but it only lasted for ten years before being discontinued in 1996.

Starting in 1997, the Super Cup was replaced by a six-team League Cup.

But the League Cup still wasn’t taken seriously.

In the eleven times it was held, Bayern reached the final seven times and won it six times, establishing absolute dominance.

The other teams lost interest in just being Bayern’s playthings.

Rummenigge had also proposed another reform, suggesting the tournament be scheduled during the winter break and held in regions like Asia, the Middle East, and Africa to serve as an overseas promotional event.

But in the end, it all came to nothing.

In 2008, after the League Cup was discontinued, Bayern came to an agreement with Dortmund.

As the ’07/’08 season’s Bundesliga champion and DFB-Pokal champion respectively, the two teams played an unofficial "Super Cup" match against each other.

This sparked intense outrage.

Especially within the Professional Football League, there was unanimous opposition to recognizing the competition.

Interestingly, Dortmund’s president, Laubal, was also the president of the Professional Football League, and he abstained from the vote.

Ultimately, after negotiations between all parties, a decision was reached: 20% of the broadcast revenue would be given to the Professional Football League as a donation.

Only then was the dispute settled.

That was how this year’s "Super Cup" match between VfL Wolfsburg and Mainz was able to be held.

So why did Wang Shuo take such an interest in this matter?

Because Gao Huairen had once spoken to him about it.

He believed that the goal of commercializing professional football was to ensure that every single person in every part of the industrial chain—from administrators, clubs, and teams to youth academies, coaches, players, staff, and even the youth squads—could profit.

After coming to Germany, Wang Shuo discovered that the German league wasn’t as formally structured as he had thought.

It was always in flux, changing constantly and repeatedly.

All sorts of struggles for influence and profit were constantly emerging.

Take the "Super Cup," for example.

Believe it or not, if this cup competition became increasingly successful, it would certainly be absorbed by the German Football Association or the Professional Football League next season, instantly becoming an official event.

Then there were the past reforms of the lower-division leagues. They changed almost every year, back and forth, to the point that even the Germans themselves found it a chaotic mess.

But that raised a question.

Wang Shuo just couldn’t figure it out.

If things were such a mess, how did German football continue to get better and better?

How did new talent continue to emerge in droves?

After finishing their extra training, Wang Shuo and the others returned to the locker room to shower and change.

Tomorrow was the first leg of the UEFA Europa League’s third qualifying round, an away match against Danish Landes.

The journey from Dortmund, Germany, to Landes, Denmark, was 750 kilometers.

By train, it would take a full thirteen hours.

By bus?

About seven hours.

By plane?

Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.

Therefore, for the match tomorrow night, Dortmund would depart this evening, arrive in Landes around midnight, and check into a local hotel.