Chapter 1882 To See or Not to See

"This is too much!"

In Tian Ye's office, Zhu Qiang slammed the table in anger.

After learning from Tian Ye about the conclusion of the meeting, he felt terrible.

In Zhu Qiang's view, this was utterly absurd. How could the Future Group's investment in the women's football team become the Football Association's spoils? On what grounds did they arrange things so unscrupulously?

What's more, they even had the audacity to say they would leave the money for the men's team!

It was sheer fantasy!

Zhu Qiang looked at Tian Ye: "Old leader, I absolutely disagree with this plan!"

"Does your disagreement matter?"

Tian Ye was quite calm. He glanced at Zhu Qiang: "Sit down first, don't be so anxious. You're not a young newcomer just starting work; why are you so impatient?"

Zhu Qiang was startled, looking at Tian Ye in surprise.

He knew his old boss too well.

Tian Ye was known for being outwardly gentle but inwardly firm. On the surface, he seemed amiable, but when it came to matters of principle, he was a tough man.

For something like today, it was no exaggeration to say that in the past, given Tian Ye's temper, he would have slammed the table and cursed at Xie Long and the others.

But unexpectedly, he had endured it so calmly.

Something was wrong!

This thought flashed through Zhu Qiang's mind. He stared intently at Tian Ye: "Old leader, what exactly are you planning?"

Tian Ye laughed: "Not anxious anymore?"

"I am anxious!"

Zhu Qiang said: "But I trust you more."

"That's more like it."

Tian Ye chuckled and said to Zhu Qiang: "You're too impatient. You don't use your head to think. Even if you openly oppose this, who can you convince? Can you convince Director Xie, or other leaders?"

Zhu Qiang remained silent. He knew that as a mere women's football team leader, he had no standing even among leaders of other national teams, let alone convincing those higher-ups.

After all, women's football didn't get much attention!

That was the reality.

"Contact the Future Group. Say we intend to discuss specific cooperation matters with them."

Tian Ye smiled and said to Zhu Qiang: "I expect Director Xie will send someone to go with us. When the time comes, don't speak; let us do the talking, understand?"

"Ah, okay."

Zhu Qiang nodded obediently. He had to listen to his old leader.

Tian Ye smiled and waved his hand: "Go back. Let the girls train well. Better days are waiting for them."

With that said, Zhu Qiang had nothing more to add and could only leave Tian Ye's office obediently.

Maybe it was his imagination, but as he left Tian Ye's office, he heard the old leader humming a Peking Opera tune, seemingly "Dingjun Mountain."

...

...

Over at the Future Group, they soon received a notice from Zhu Qiang that two deputy directors of the Football Association would personally discuss sponsorship matters with them.

"Leaders from the Football Association?"

Sitting in his office, Zhao Fusheng played with his computer and smiled at Zheng Yao, who had come to report: "Guess what they're here for?"

"Huh?"

Zheng Yao was puzzled: "Isn't it to discuss how to use the sponsorship funds?"

"Heh."

Zhao Fusheng smiled but shook his head: "It's not that simple."

Then he said to Zheng Yao: "Do you know what kind of organization the Chinese Football Association really is?"

"I know."

Zheng Yao smiled, waving the documents in her hand: "I've read them all."

The Chinese Football Association, established in the 1950s, is the governing body of football in China, abbreviated domestically as the CFA or the Football Association. It is a member of the Asian Football Confederation and the International Federation of Association Football, a national mass sports organization, and a group member of the All-China Sports Federation.

The CFA headquarters is located in the capital, and its highest authority is the congress. The standing committee, composed of the chairman, full-time vice-chairmen, vice-chairmen, secretary-general, and treasurer, performs its duties when the congress is not in session.

The chairmen's meeting is the executive body handling daily work. Under it are twelve special committees: advisory, finance, competition, women's football, youth football, school football, referees, regulations, science and technology, coaching, safety, press, and foreign affairs.

Its functions are to study and formulate development plans, programs, and policies for football; to be responsible for and guide the construction of clubs and the cultivation of reserve talents; to manage national teams at all levels; to study, formulate, and implement national competition systems, competition plans, programs, and refereeing laws; to organize training for coaches and referees; to organize scientific and technological research to improve training levels; to set standards for football fields and the research and development of football equipment; and to conduct international exchanges and technical cooperation.

In fact, the Chinese Football Association and the Football Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China are the same team, a setup to comply with FIFA regulations that governments should not interfere in football.

Thus, the CFA can be understood as a vest for the Chinese Football Management Center. The CFA chairman is a figurehead not responsible for daily affairs; the full-time vice-chairman of the CFA, who is also the director of the Football Management Center, handles daily operations.

"To be honest, I don't think it's a big deal. Isn't it just a deputy director of the CFA? They seem to have a dozen or so of those, right?" Zheng Yao asked Zhao Fusheng nonchalantly.

To her, she had met even higher-ranking officials; two deputy directors of the CFA were nothing special.

Zhao Fusheng shook his head and said calmly, "You need to understand that the CFA is the only single-sport association in China with independent development, independent management, and independent supervision."

"In this regard, even basketball and volleyball can't compare, and even badminton and table tennis, our two traditional strongholds, fall short of the CFA."

Zheng Yao was somewhat surprised; she hadn't known that.

Zhao Fusheng smiled. Actually, he hadn't finished his thought. Other sports at least had their moments of glory, but Chinese football had never been glorious.

Some might say that in 2002, the national team made it to the World Cup.

But don't forget, the situation back then wasn't that the national team was that strong in Asia; rather, their luck was so good they could have bought a lottery ticket.

In the preliminary round of the Asian zone for the World Cup, the national team, led by Serbian Milutinović, was grouped with the Maldives, Indonesia, and Cambodia.

The level and strength of these three teams need no elaboration; the national team unsurprisingly advanced to the final round as group winners.

Before the final round, the luck of the draw directly affected the national team's chances of reaching the World Cup. As a second-tier team, they were grouped with the UAE, Uzbekistan, Qatar, and Oman, thus avoiding the strong Iranian team.

The rest of the story goes without saying; the national team successfully qualified for the World Cup.

It must be admitted that the national team at that time, though second-rate in Asia and third-rate in the world, at least had many players playing abroad, such as Sun Jihai and Yang Chen, who could hold starting positions in European leagues, showing they had some ability.

But now, after those veterans have retired, Chinese football has become increasingly useless.

Ten years later, the national team players were mockingly called 'white-cut chicken'...

Zhao Fusheng wondered if those footballing predecessors, when they saw the news, wanted to strangle their juniors.

At the very least, Zhao Fusheng felt that if it were him, he definitely couldn't stand it.

Of course, the decline of Chinese football is partly due to the limited skill of the players, but also closely related to the chaotic management of the CFA. So Zhao Fusheng was curious: under these circumstances, what did the CFA leaders want to talk to him about?

He didn't think he had anything to discuss with those bureaucrats.

As they say, you can't discuss ice with a summer insect. He and those people at the CFA really seemed to have nothing to say.

"So, not meeting?"

After thinking for a moment, Zheng Yao asked Zhao Fusheng.

"Why not meet?"

Zhao Fusheng smiled: "It's not like I'm someone who can't be seen, nor am I begging them for sponsorship."

"But don't you dislike the people at the CFA?" Zheng Yao asked, puzzled.

"I won't go; you go."

Zhao Fusheng smiled and winked at Zheng Yao: "Just remember, don't agree to anything."

"Stall?"

Zheng Yao thought for a moment and said to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "Yes, just stall. Let's see what they're really up to. Although we don't care about the money, we can't let anyone treat us like fools."

Zheng Yao had no objection to this and nodded in agreement.

For her, Zhao Fusheng's instructions were to be carried out.

She just wondered what tricks those people at the CFA would come up with.

To be honest, Zhao Fusheng didn't know either, which was why he was so curious and hoped to get the answer from Zheng Yao.