The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills

Chapter 544: Chapter 108: An Unexpected Surprise! Domain Skill: Reverser! Wang Shuo’s Golden Ball Ranking! Ferguson and Wenger Vying for Him

The goal-scoring stats of La Liga’s two biggest superstars were head and shoulders above those of players in other leagues.

The problem was, when placed next to Wang Shuo’s stats in the Bundesliga, their numbers became quite a bit more awkward.

Of course, the Spanish media had their own narrative.

To put it simply, the Bundesliga was too weak, and the goals scored there weren’t worth as much.

"Let’s see Wang Shuo try it in La Liga!"

It was exactly the same as when Ronaldo played in the Premier League, and its fans and media were constantly shouting for Messi to come and give it a try.

Only now, the media in Madrid and the Catalonia Region were united, aiming their fire at an external target.

But admittedly, the German media was at a clear disadvantage in this debate.

There was nothing to be done. After all, who could deny the Bundesliga’s weaker position at the moment?

Amidst all this controversy, the 17th round of the Bundesliga concluded, and the third round of the DFB-Pokal began.

Dortmund hosted Nuremberg.

Klopp fielded a mixed lineup of starters and reserves for the match, with Wang Shuo on the bench.

In the 15th minute, Reus opened the scoring for Dortmund.

After play resumed in the second half, Lewandowski added another goal in the 69th minute.

In the end, Dortmund defeated Nuremberg 2-0 at home, smoothly advancing to the 4th round of the DFB-Pokal.

The quarterfinals.

...

"Cheers!"

In an Italian restaurant in Hombruch, every member of the Dortmund first team raised their glasses in unison.

The glasses held beer, wine, juice, and even plain water.

Everyone cheerfully raised their glasses, clinking them against those of the coaches and teammates around them.

After the DFB-Pokal match, Dortmund welcomed the busy Christmas season.

As in previous years, the club organized a grand Christmas celebration.

Wang Shuo gradually discovered something very interesting.

Teams in Germany placed great importance on utilizing and developing their home stadiums.

Take Dortmund, for example. The atmosphere at Westfalen Stadium was already intimidating enough, wasn’t it?

Yet during the Christmas season, the club would host all sorts of events at the stadium, including an annual charity bazaar.

Even on non-match days, they did everything they could to draw fans to the grounds, all to forge the stadium into a veritable shrine in the hearts of the supporters.

Many fans even held their weddings at Westfalen Stadium.

It was for this reason that the Bundesliga not only still had standing sections, but its ticket prices were the lowest among Europe’s top leagues—even cheaper than second-tier leagues like the Primeira Liga and the Eredivisie.

Bayern’s Rummenigge had once said something to the effect of: it would be incredibly easy for Bayern to raise their ticket prices.

Their tickets were always in high demand.

But raising prices would, at most, only earn Bayern a few million more euros a year. It simply wasn’t necessary.

They didn’t care about that little bit of money.

However, the financial burden it would place on the fans would be immense.

This wasn’t just a philosophy at Bayern; nearly every team in the Bundesliga shared this view.

Therefore, while Bundesliga stadiums certainly had a commercial feel, the fervent football atmosphere was always stronger.

Of course, the Bundesliga teams could afford to have such confidence.

Thanks to the packed stadiums, they were able to attract a great deal of advertising and sponsorship from local businesses each year.

The more Wang Shuo learned, the more he felt that this kind of atmosphere was truly wonderful.

Many people said that Premier League fans were incredibly passionate.

But Wang Shuo had heard on more than one occasion that the Premier League’s exorbitant ticket prices priced the vast majority of fans out of the stadiums.

Even the broadcasting rights for the Premier League were getting more expensive, and the subscription packages from Sky Sports were becoming pricier, to the point that many fans couldn’t even afford to watch the matches on television.

So how did they watch the games?

They would go to a pub, grab a drink, and watch it there.

That was why on almost every match day, there was news of drunk Premier League fans causing trouble.

On the other hand, a growing number of Premier League legends and players, including Roy Keane, were pointing out that the home-field atmosphere was eroding.

As a player, Wang Shuo really did love this kind of atmosphere in the Bundesliga.

"Wang, where’s Lina?"

Subotic asked with concern as Wang Shuo was lost in his thoughts.

"She’s been really busy lately. Hasn’t been home in a few days," Wang Shuo said with a smile.

"Business is that good?"

"Yeah, sales in 2010 far exceeded expectations, so there’s a ton to do. The company is completely swamped right now. Plus, she recently signed contracts with two major department store chains to get her products into physical stores."

Lina Gerk’s business was growing larger and larger, and she was getting busier and busier.

Although she rarely did commercial runway shows anymore, she still had to attend certain high-end events, maintain her network both inside and outside her professional circle, and on top of all that, run her company...

In short, she was so busy every day that she didn’t even have a moment to catch her breath.

But speaking of business, Wang Shuo’s thoughts turned to Shen Qinghe.

He had heard by chance from Chen Jialin that Shen Qinghe actually had companies in both London and China, founded back in 2007.

Apparently, she had founded them right after arriving in the United Kingdom as a student, primarily focused on proxy buying.

Her employees in London were mainly international students and local Chinese residents. Initially, they used channels like tour guides and flight attendants to physically carry luxury goods like watches and bags back to China in their luggage.

Now, however, the operation was fully legitimate, with a proper company and official channels. The business had also expanded from luxury goods to include products like baby formula and cosmetics.