Chapter 946: Double Insurance
Yang Huan once heard a very interesting joke.
Americans say, I am the biggest in the world, and I can beat whoever I want. The British say, I am the second child, and I can beat whoever the American boss beats.
The French say, whoever hits me, I will hit him, and the Japanese say, whoever hits me, I will let the American father hit him.
Although this is a joke, it is very interesting to spoof the current world situation.
It is obvious that the United States is the only one. They can even threaten that everything that happens on this earth is under their control, so they are nicknamed World Police.
However, football, intentionally or unintentionally, acts as an exception.
Since the subprime mortgage crisis, although the government has put forward a plan to return to manufacturing, in fact, everyone knows that this is just a slogan, and the US government is equally clear, so they have been actively looking for any means that can stimulate economic recovery. Among them is the sports industry, which has high hopes.
In the United States, the sports industry is quite large in scale and its business model is very mature. It generates a market value of about 500 billion U.S. dollars every year and drives a fairly large employment population.
The nfl football league, nba professional basketball league, mlb professional baseball league and nhl ice hockey league are known as the four major professional leagues in the United States, and their fans include nearly 70% of Americans.
However, as the world's largest sport, football has just started in the United States.
This can be said to be a major flaw in the American sports industry, but it can also be reversed, and this is a major opportunity.
Revitalizing the U.S. football industry has become a major decision of the U.S. government. Even in 2010, they proposed a plan to revitalize the U.S. soccer industry and bid for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups at the same time. hosting rights.
This is not just about football, because when the U.S. government proposed the plan, it also proposed a whole package of solutions including urban hardware construction and investment.
In other words, this has greatly exceeded the scope of football.
So at that time, in the United States, dozens of cities submitted bids at the same time, and as many as 18 cities were shortlisted for the first time, all of which were big cities with great reputations in the world.
At the same time, on the other side of the Atlantic, Britain also encountered the European debt crisis and economic downturn. They also proposed to use the football industry to revitalize the British economy. Therefore, they also proposed a package of revitalization plans to bid for the World Cup.
So, the world boss and his henchman, the second child, made the first calculation at home, well, let's not beat ourselves up, add two to one, make five, the United Kingdom bids for 2018, and the United States bids for 2022, and that's it.
It sounds a lot like the time when Spain and Portugal divided the eastern and western halves of the earth equally.
But the terrible thing is that their way of dealing with international affairs, put it in the world of football, but it doesn't work at all.
When the host of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups was announced, the Americans and the British were stunned.
Nimi, it’s fine if the 2018 World Cup doesn’t give me old Ying’s face, but it’s even given to Russia?
Don't you FIFA know that we are sanctioning Russia?
Also, 2022 was given to Qatar, a small country in the Middle East?
Damn, my family is counting on the World Cup to revive it, and you actually gave it to that local tycoon in Qatar?
What is even more humiliating is that when voting for the right to host the 2018 World Cup, Britain only got two votes, and one of them was voted for itself. I cried to death!
And the United States is even worse, 8 to 14. The four European votes that were originally settled in advance were also given to Qatar. It was really a mess.
At this moment, Lao Mei and Lao Ying became angry.
Usually, only the two of us play with each other, who can play with us?
What's even more hateful is that you forget about playing one, and you even play with us brothers!
It's really unbearable!
As a result, when Lao Mei and Lao Ying got angry, FIFA corruption officially kicked off!
In the whole thing, Blatter was actually quite depressed.
The emperor of international football has always been used to playing prestige in his one-third of an acre of land, only recognizing interests and not recognizing people, but in all this, he obviously offended people who he could not afford to offend.
Regardless of whether he is out of personal interests, or wants to use this method to flaunt FIFA's detachment, anyway, this time he has played himself into it.
From the standpoint of Qatar and Russia, they are the most worrying.
Especially Qatar.
The World Cup in Russia is in 2018, and there is only three short years, and no one can take over Russia in a hurry, so there should be no problem with the World Cup in Russia.
Not so for Qatar.
That's why Prime Minister Hamad and the Qatari government are so worried.
What if Papa America really snatches the right to host the 2022 World Cup?
Originally, in Qatar's view, if Platini can be successfully elected as the president of FIFA, that would be very good.
But judging from the current situation, things seem to have exceeded everyone's imagination.
With the downfall of Blatter, Platini may hardly survive.
This point was also something Yang Huan had never imagined before.
This time the muddy waters became more and more confusing, and even Platini fell into it.
Even Yang Huan had to admit that he had indeed miscalculated.
However, after hearing Prime Minister Hamad's worries, Yang Huan shook his head again, "Even if Platini is finished, so what?"
"What do you mean?" Hamad was a little confused.
Yang Huan shook his head with a smile, "UEFA has already made second-hand preparations. If something happens to Platini, they will push Secretary-General Gianni Infantino to stand for election. He is Swiss. He was born as a lawyer, and the anti-corruption and crackdown on gambling in European football in recent years has also been very impressive, so..."
When Prime Minister Hamad heard this, his eyes lit up.
Isn't what FIFA is facing now the problem of corruption?
At this time, isn't it just right for a neutral but also resolute Swiss lawyer to serve as the president of FIFA?
More importantly, although Infantini is a spare tire and does not have much reputation, I am afraid that few people will have an opinion on him. Even in the eyes of Americans, it is better for the Swiss to be in charge than the Middle East, Wouldn't it be much better for people from Africa, South America and other regions to run it?
At least, that's white Europeans, okay?
"Gianni Infantino..." Prime Minister Hamad read the name, completely unfamiliar.
"Who is it?" He asked his precious son beside him.
Hamad, the little prince of the Middle East, also had his eyes darkened, and shook his head, I don't know.
Prime Minister Hamad almost slapped him with his hands, what about you?
You are all going to European football, why are you so far behind Master Huan?
Look at Master Huan, how capable and capable he is?
If you were half as good as Young Master Huan, then I would be much more at ease!
"Gianni Infantino is the host of each Champions League draw ceremony, that bald head!" Yang Huan said with a smile.
He also has a good friendship with Infantino. In the final analysis, it was drawn from Platini.
Now UEFA and Platini's attitude is very consistent, if Platini can run, then he will come forward, UEFA fully supports Platini.
But if the situation is not right and Platini cannot stand for the election, then concentrate all resources and fully support Infantino.
Yang Huan has a good relationship with Infantino, and of course he is happy to see it succeed.
Anyway, no matter who is elected, it has nothing to do with us Chinese, so it is better to simply think about how to make profits, which is serious.
Although there will also be candidates from Asia, such as Prince Ali, Yang Huan is very clear that the election of people from West Asia and the Middle East will not benefit East Asia at all, on the contrary, it will even be very disadvantageous.
For a long time, the internal power struggle of the AFC has never stopped, which has led to a very disunity within, and even divided into two factions, East Asia and West Asia. Prince Ali belongs to the West Asia faction.
In order to run against Blatter for the presidency of FIFA, Prince Ali tried every means to win over UEFA, but in the end, Blatter won most of the votes from Asia and Africa, which almost made him a sure winner.
All in all, the battle here is not just divided by simple regions, but more complicated.
In Yang Huan's opinion, if there are Chinese people involved, he will definitely support it with all his strength, but since there is no such thing as Gianni Infantino and Ali, he will of course choose the former.
"Master Huan, what do you mean, Infantino will replace Platini?"
Yang Huan smiled slightly, "This is double insurance!"
"The 2022 World Cup..."
You know, the emperor has already spoken harsh words, and he has the momentum to use aircraft carriers and missiles to defend the right to host the World Cup. Therefore, the right to host the World Cup in 2018 should be no problem.
Who is out of his mind and wants to rob Russia?
But in 2022, on the one hand, there is still a long time to prepare, and on the other hand, Qatar does not have much right to speak, and dare not speak out when it is being bullied. Isn’t this the best punching bag to scare others out?
Yang Huan is very clear about the thoughts of Prime Minister Hamad and the Qatari government.
To be honest, Qatar is nothing in front of big countries like the US, Russia and the UK.
"In July this year, the North American Gold Cup will be held in the United States. In the past 24 years, the Gold Cup has been held twelve times, and eleven of them have been held in the United States. This time, the United States has launched a total of thirteen competitions. City."
"Next July, the Copa America Centennial, which will be launched by the South American Football Association, will invite 16 South American teams to participate, surpassing the twelve teams in the Copa America, and the venue of the competition will also leave South America and go to ten cities in the United States. to hold."
"In 2017, it will be the North American Gold Cup, and at the end of July every year, it will be our International Champions Cup and a series of other supporting warm-up events. Therefore, in the next few years, the football boom in the United States will become more and more intense. High."
Hearing what Master Huan said, Prime Minister Hamad's heart trembled.
what does this mean?
According to what Master Huan said, doesn't it mean that the United States is very interested in the 2022 World Cup?
You know, if it was declared illegal in 2016 to host the World Cup in Qatar, by 2022, there are still six years of preparation time, which is completely enough for the United States.
This is also fully in line with the US football revitalization strategy in the past, present, and in the years to come.
But for Qatar, this is a catastrophe.
In order to bid for the World Cup, they have paid so much, invested so much money in the construction of the World Cup venues, and other supporting facilities. If the World Cup does not come, wouldn't everything they have been in vain?
But for this, Qatar has nothing to do.
Because things have completely exceeded their expectations.
It should be said that things have gotten out of control since the United States and the United Kingdom strongly intervened in FIFA.
They can be said to be unable to protect themselves now!
Thinking of this, Prime Minister Hamad really panicked.
Because he knows very well that, as a small country in the Middle East, Qatar is powerless to stop this matter unless...
Prime Minister Hamad immediately raised his head and looked at Young Master Yang Huan, where the old god was present.
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