On the evening of the first day of the lunar new year in the year of the tiger (February 1, 2022), the Chinese men’s football team lost 1:3 to Vietnam in the top 12 of the Asian qualifier of the world cup in Qatar, which has basically announced its absence from the 2022 World Cup in advance. The loss of the national football team became the biggest hot spot on the Chinese Internet that night. Fan Zhiyi brushed the screen with an interview clip of “going on to lose to Vietnam” nine years ago.
Although the new national football coach Li Xiaopeng apologized for the first time after the game, saying that such a score was unacceptable. But the defeat on the first day of the lunar new year has sparked broader discussion. Prior to this, China maintained seven consecutive victories against Vietnam in international events, and this was also a game held at the beginning of the lunar new year. A defeat inevitably made people feel “blocked”. Executives of relevant companies of the Chinese copyright owners of the top 12 events also expressed disappointment and even anger in their personal circle of friends.
what did the Chinese team experience in Hanoi?
Only from the microscopic point of view, there seems to be a trace for the Chinese team to lose to Vietnam in the days before and after the game.
Back to 00:15 Beijing time on January 29, the Chinese men’s football team finally arrived at their resident hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam after a six hour flight. On the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month, the people of China and Vietnam are waiting for the Spring Festival, the most important traditional festival of the year. There are still three days before the national football team loses to Vietnam on the first day of the lunar new year.
Earlier, the national football team lost to Japan 0:2 at Saitama stadium in Japan. The day after losing the game, the national football team set out for Vietnam.
On that day, the temperature in Hanoi exceeded 14 degrees Celsius, much warmer than the Saitama 2002 stadium where the Chinese team was located a day ago. This temperature should make Chinese players feel comfortable. Before going to Japan, they have been training in relatively warm Shanghai since January 12. Last year, they spent a lot of time training in warm West Asia, from Doha to the United Arab Emirates to Sharjah.
But just after a failure, I turned around and had to fly to Southeast Asia to prepare for the game in three days, which was indeed a little hasty. On the afternoon of the 29th, the national football team started its first training, and all 26 players appeared in the Hanoi waiting stadium. This is a stadium built in the 1950s. The site conditions are poor, and there is no special dressing room and bathroom.
However, the Vietnamese team also trained under such circumstances. The next day, the national football team conducted a second training course. Before training, Wei Shihao and Yan Junling were interviewed. They said that as long as they play normally, they will be able to win.
The battle of public opinion before a football match usually occurs only before an important game. On the same day, Vietnamese team coach Park Hengxu and Vietnamese national team captain Du Xiongyong also publicly told the media that they would try their best to defeat China and bring a special spring festival to the Vietnamese.
On this day, the Chinese women’s football team has been the first to receive good news. They defeated Vietnam 3:1 in the quarter finals of the women’s Asian Cup. But the news did not attract much attention.
On the day before the match, Chinese team head coach Li Xiaopeng continued the confidence of the previous players at the pre match press conference held on the morning of January 31. He said he hoped to increase the festive atmosphere for the fans all over the country with a victory in the Spring Festival.
Interestingly, at the press conference on the same day, Vietnam coach Park Hengxu reversed his previous attitude of defeating China, took the initiative to show weakness and praised the Chinese team. “The players of the Chinese team are very strong, the speed of the two wingers is very fast, and their organization is also very good.” Park Hengxu said, “China has a population of more than 1 billion, and their material selection resources are very rich. In addition, Chinese football has also invested a lot of money.”
“As for weaknesses, I haven’t seen their weaknesses yet.” He said so.
Taking the initiative to show weakness is often to make the other side underestimate the enemy. A former sports commentator believes that the abnormal performance of the Vietnamese team before the game and our previous victory over Vietnam in the first round still affect the players’ mentality. In addition, continuous running is also a factor. With the current strength of the two teams, the Chinese team will not lose three goals in a row.
During the game, Vietnamese Prime Minister fan Mingzheng in the stands also stood up many times to cheer for the Vietnamese team’s goal. From the expression of the broadcast lens, he was really happy. After the game, he personally presented red envelopes to the players at the scene.
The Chinese fans present witnessed the national team swallowing two bullets in a row in the first 20 minutes, and seemed at a loss in the stands. Subsequently, these pictures were made into various short videos and GIF pictures to # cover up the fans of the national football team and search on major Chinese social platforms.
Although the average age of the national football team’s 23 National People’s Congress list has reached 29.3 years old, Vietnam is only 25.7 years old. However, in terms of value, the value of the National Football Association has reached 14.825 million euros, while that of Vietnam is only 4.45 million euros. The value of the National Football Association has reached 3.3 times that of Vietnam.
Wu Lei is still the player with the highest value in the national football team, reaching 2.5 million euros. The highest value in Vietnam is Ruan Wenquan and other three players, all worth only 300000 euros.
business network behind the top 12
The regional qualifiers of each world cup are hosted by the Football Federation of the region. For AFC, the World Cup qualifier is almost the most influential and commercial game in the region, and China is undoubtedly the most potentially valuable market in Asia.
Today’s business strategy of AFC in the Chinese market also needs to rely on the Chinese company – A-share company Wuhan Ddmc Culture & Sports Co.Ltd(600136) (600136. SH) to sign an exclusive licensing agreement with AFC in 2018. The company will be fully responsible for the design of business rights and interests of AFC related events, sales strategy and market impact plan. After the two sides reach an agreement, Wuhan Ddmc Culture & Sports Co.Ltd(600136) will also be responsible for specific implementation.
This is the first time that a Chinese sports company has become a rule maker and promoted its strategy to the world. Previously, a sports commentator once analyzed the reporter of China Business Daily that although the international influence of AFC events is limited, the formulation of rules by Chinese companies is still conducive to the promotion of Chinese football and create a market more in line with the habits of Chinese audiences.
Under the promotion of Wuhan Ddmc Culture & Sports Co.Ltd(600136) , AFC has seven official global partners and official global sponsors in the top 12, including China’s Yili Group. This is not easy in the context of the epidemic. You know, there are only 12 top sponsors for the European Cup, which starts in 2021 and has far more influence than AFC events.
Official information shows that the Chinese women’s football team has two partners, renrenche and xiaohongshu, while the men’s football team has signed three sponsors, Hla Group Corp.Ltd(600398) , Tsingtao Brewery Company Limited(600600) and Dongshan No. 1.
At the same time, in order to fully tap the commercial potential of regional audiences. Since last year, Wuhan Ddmc Culture & Sports Co.Ltd(600136) and AFC have jointly launched the “official regional partnership” program. More and more local enterprises in various countries have begun to include AFC competitions in the launch range, including China Mobile Migu video and iqiyi sports.
A person from a sports copyright company told our reporter that the high cost of top sponsorship and the lack of attraction of the competition led to little interest from enterprises. Adding regional partners is conducive to attracting more enterprises to enter. Although it is for interests, it is also to expand the scope of promotion in essence.
If the Chinese team can continue to move forward, it means that the Chinese enterprises and sponsors who win the copyright will also gain more exposure and traffic, which can form a positive cycle. However, under the “empty field” pressure caused by the epidemic, football is obviously facing greater operational pressure than other sports.
For Migu and iqiyi, who have the rights to broadcast the event, although they have used various communication methods, no matter what means they come up with to attract attention, I’m afraid they can’t reverse the loss of interest of fans in the event due to the loss of the game.
This is also a concern for copyright companies and sponsors. After all, from a commercial perspective, tapping interests and expanding influence is the only way they can “help” Chinese football.
Chinese football is undergoing changes. The loss of the national football team to Vietnam may be the bottom of the change. A person from the sports industry told reporters that under the background of the continuous epidemic and the most stringent football “salary restriction order” in history, the underlying logic of Chinese football used for many years is gradually loosening, in which the change of commercial interests is an important part.
He believes that on the one hand, new communication methods bring new commercial value and attract more and more platforms to bet on football copyright. These companies hope to try their best to promote the event in order to gain more value. What they are most worried about is the continuous loss of audience due to poor performance.
On the other hand, with the reshuffle of some traditional enterprises, the routine of throwing money to play the team has become unworkable. As the only professional system of Chinese football, CSL is going through the most difficult time. It is difficult to see that the commercial value of Chinese football will explode in the short term, which can easily make enterprises lose the willingness to participate. In his opinion, if there is no more power to support football, any theory is empty talk.
From the early years of Jinyuan football to the problem that naturalized foreign aid still can not solve the shortage of talents, and now that the lack of youth training system and national investment in Chinese football has almost become the common sense of public opinion, can the defeat of the national football team in “creating history” become the last force to turn the salted fish around?
