Chapter 452 World Cup Qualifiers
At this time, Hong Kong football was unrivaled in Asia.

The Flower Team, which was mainly composed of players from the Hong Kong League, won nine consecutive championships in the Far Eastern Games football tournament before World War II.

After the war, top Hong Kong players joined the Chinese team of the Yizhou government, won two Asian Games football championships, and made it to the finals of the 2 Olympic Games. It can be said that Hong Kong football has almost won all the honors of Chinese football in the international arena.

As the economy takes off, the football market is also booming.

At this time, the Hong Kong League is considered the best league in Asia.

This tiny country has more than a dozen teams, and almost every game is sold out. The scene of fans queuing up to buy tickets is comparable to the scene of fans queuing up overnight to buy train tickets.

Therefore, the score of 3:4 does not mean that Hong Kong football is lagging behind, but only means that the overall level of Asian football is not good.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be only one spot for Asia, and even if it entered the World Cup finals, it would still be eliminated in the first round.

As for why it declined after the 80s, it was because of problems with the league mechanism, suppression of foreign players, requirements for an all-Chinese team, and insufficient attention to youth training, etc.

Therefore, when Wang Yuanchao first came here, he focused on youth training, established many football schools, and sent outstanding students to play football abroad. He wanted to maintain the top level of Hong Kong football within his ability and preserve the flame of Hong Kong football.

As for Seiko's willingness to invite a large number of foreign players, they have the generous sponsorship of "Seiko Watch"!
They hired former Dutch national team coach Knobel, and with his help, they brought in several former Dutch internationals, including Ali Haan, many of whom participated in the 1978 World Cup.

Wang Yuanchao was happy to see this happen.

If any business is willing to sponsor the league, Wang Yuanchao would be happy!

There are only seven foreign players now. Even if they are all foreign players, he doesn’t care. As long as Hong Kong’s football market is booming and profitable, everyone will actively participate in football and the bloodline of football will not be broken.

Historically, in the Hong Kong League, many stadiums were shared by two teams.

But now, Wang Yuanchao has a large amount of bonus from selling horse racing tickets. Through the foundation, he is building a large number of stadiums. Football culture is the representative of John's culture, which has also won the support of the authorities, and the land is given at a very cheap price.

This ensures that every league team has its own independent home stadium, making it easier to build its own football community and fan culture.

Wang Yuanchao does not have a football team, but his foundation owns shares in many football teams.

He will not hold on to these players when they return from training, because he has a group of talented players returning every year and he still has to digest them.

Not everyone is as wealthy as Seiko and can introduce high-level foreign players, such as this group of young players in their 20s, which makes all the clubs very envious.

Once brought into the team, some young people can directly secure a starting position.

Of course, among these 20 players, only a dozen of the starting players have the ability to become the main players in the league in their 30s. It also depends on how they fit in with the team.

As for the remaining ones, most of them will naturally continue to improve and run in, and may even have to play in the second division.

Therefore, this meeting is a discussion where all clubs can speak freely and divide up talents. Wang Yuanchao's Football Association will fully refer to the suggestions of various clubs and then integrate a plan.

This allows each club to have a full sense of participation, rather than the Football Association dominating and having the final say.

At least for now, the effect is very good.

Some people suggest that the highest bidder wins, and for those players with outstanding performance, the club's offer can almost make the youth training cost-recovery and even make a profit.

Some people suggest learning from the Western draft system, that is, the worst team will be given priority. As long as there is no bidding, new players can be expensive. Teams with poor performance will have more opportunities to perform. Otherwise, if they go to Seiko or Nanhua, new players will have more chances to sit on the bench, which is not conducive to their growth.

After sufficient communication (argument), Wang Yuanchao decided on the draft system.

After the students return from their studies, they will be evenly distributed to the second-tier league. The second-tier teams only need to pay the players basic wages, but they must be guaranteed to play for one season. During this period, the first-tier league teams will observe them, and it will also be convenient for the foundation to set prices for the young players.

There are 14 first-tier teams, and the last two are relegated to the second tier, so the 12th place has priority.

The first-place team has the right to select the 12th/13th place.

In theory, each team has two or three draft picks.

If you don't think there are any players you like, you don't have to choose them.

Finally, draft picks can be traded.

This also brings some extra economic benefits to some first-class teams. As long as you can stay in the first-class league, the team will never be short of money.

Whether it is ticket revenue, advertising revenue, sponsorship revenue, etc.

Otherwise, why would we play in the A-League?

Players who are not selected can only get basic salary in the second division and hone their skills. Most of the second division clubs are not willing to pay a high price, otherwise they can recruit a group of elite players and play in the first division.

The draft picks were finalized, and then there were transfer regulations.

If the player's contract with the club has not expired, he can also transfer after the season ends. The new club must pay the original club a transfer fee, which is equivalent to liquidated damages.

But if the player's contract expires, the player can choose to join any team.

This move greatly protects the interests of Class B clubs and small and medium-sized Class A clubs.

The top clubs in the first division don’t have much objection to this, as they are not short of money anyway.

Why aren't clubs allowed to carry out youth training?

Wang Yuanchao has been doing this for so many years. He is not short of money. Why would he sell it off?

He is in charge of the football association and his foundation is also running the football school. He can just do it himself and brainwash these kids, right?

After a friendly match, this overseas team began to play games in turns with various second-tier teams. Because they have a large number of players, they basically played three games a week, which lasted for a month. This gave the first-tier clubs a full display and made it easier to sell them at a high price.

When the new Hong Kong team was selected for the first time, 8 of the young overseas players were included in the 22-man roster.

Wang Yuanchao is not satisfied. Some of the veteran players are no longer strong enough, but because they are veteran players, they are still on the roster.

He directly returned the roster and asked someone to tell the head coach:

“Choose carefully!”

At the same time, he arranged for the Football Association to start privately observing foreign coaches. The local coaches paid too much attention to personal friendships, which touched his reverse scale.

The head coach has a close relationship with the veteran players, but he is more afraid of the boss of the football association. He really can't understand why such a big tycoon would pay attention to this unprofitable football every day.

There is no other way. For the same position, if young players who study abroad can be used, then they will be used. In this way, in the second roster, young players who study abroad occupied 14 people.

That's pretty much it!
The Hong Kong League is okay, but there are still a lot of foreign players in it, which doesn’t mean that all local players are that good.

The plan for the Asian qualifying matches will also be released soon.

18 teams registered for the competition, and India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines withdrew before the start of the competition.

The 15 teams are divided into two zones.

There are 7 teams in Zone A (East Asia plus Israel). All games will be played in South Korea. The competition will be divided into four stages:

Ranking Tournament: All teams except South Korea will play in groups for preliminary matches to determine the groups.

Group stage: 7 teams are divided into 2 groups according to the results of the group stage for a double round-robin tournament. The top two teams in each group advance to the semi-finals.

Semi-finals: The winner of Group 1 will play a single match against the runner-up of Group 2, and the winner of Group 2 will play a single match against the runner-up of Group 1. The winners will advance to the finals.

Finals: Two teams will play one final and the winner will advance to the final round.

There are 8 teams in Zone B (teams from West Asia and Oceania, plus Indonesia and North Korea). The competition is divided into two stages:
Group stage: 8 teams are divided into 2 groups, 4 teams in each group. The two teams play twice (all Group 1 games are played in Iran, and all Group 2 games are played in Australia except the first game in New Zealand). The first place in the two groups advances to the final.

Final: Both teams play home and away games. The winner will advance to the final.

In the final round, the winners of Zone A and Zone B will play home and away games. The winner will advance to the World Cup.

The promotion process for the two divisions AB is different, it's really...

The characteristics of this era!
In the 70 World Cup qualifiers, Asian teams withdrew from the competition due to a disagreement. The same thing happened in 74. Didn’t India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines also withdraw from the competition?
Whether others retire or not is none of Wang Yuanchao’s business. His goal is for the Hong Kong United team to become a regular at the World Cup!
He has invested so much!
In order to encourage the team, the Football Association even offered a 50 yuan winning prize for a regular match victory, as well as a 100 million yuan bonus for the World Cup finals!
If the Hong Kong team can keep winning and qualify for the World Cup in Asia, they need to win 6 games in addition to the ranking group stage!
That’s a 300 million bonus + a 100 million bonus!
400 million!
As soon as this policy came out, the barriers between the upper and lower levels of the Hong Kong team immediately disappeared.

Are you kidding me? How can an old relationship compare to such a huge bonus?

All the players and coaching staff will receive a bonus of more than 10 yuan per person as long as they win these games!
Although they are the top athletes in Hong Kong, many of them only earn three to five thousand Hong Kong dollars a month. This bonus is equivalent to two years' salary!
Three to five thousand Hong Kong dollars is basically the same level as the income of the top movie stars before the establishment of Starlight Pictures.

After Starlight Pictures was established, it brought dividends to movie stars, which greatly increased their salaries. Shaw Brothers had to follow suit, otherwise all its employees would run away.

Fame, wealth, honor and money, Wang Yuanchao is so direct!

Anyway, his foundation has money, so what's wrong with spending some money to improve his performance?
After a month of training, the ambitious Xiangjiang team headed north to Korea to fight for their honor and money.

(End of this chapter)