The days of playing football with Da Luo

Chapter 462 Botafogo
It is hot summer in the southern hemisphere.

Ricardo came to the beach in Rio de Janeiro and enjoyed it to the fullest for a few days.

Then he came to the Botafogo club and met with the new club executives.

Although he is the big boss of the team and holds 90% of the shares, he does not hold any position.

Most of the high-level positions such as team president and football director are recruited professional managers, and there are also old people from Botafogo. For example, Jairzinho was invited back by Ricardo to serve as the team's vice president.Given Riccardo's current status in the arena, Jairzinho is still happy to sell him a face, and his salary is also quite high.

Football is a competitive sport, but the operation of a modern football club is ultimately a commercial activity.

According to Licardo's insights, using professional managers to develop the club's business can better maintain the club's financial health and sustainable development.

Although Licado was very young, no one dared to underestimate him at the meeting, at least on the surface, and everyone listened carefully to his speech.

At the meeting, Ricardo proposed: "Botafogo is a club with a long history and glorious tradition, and it is one of the giants in Brazil. We must pursue results, and results are the lifeblood of the club. But we can't be too eager Pursue results without hesitation, and develop steadily, if you take too many steps, you will fall into trouble."

"In the long run, the club should pay attention to the construction of the youth training echelon, the construction of training facilities, the discovery of talents from within itself, the full development of business, the realization of profitability, and the creation of a strong team in Brazil's domestic and South American arenas. It will remain competitive for the next 20 years."

"In the short term, I can invest a certain amount of money so that the club can buy some capable players, hire a capable head coach, maintain the stability of the team, and spend 3 to 5 years competing for one or two major championships, such as Copa Libertadores, Mercosur Cup, league titles and state championships."

"I don't want the team to achieve results quickly, but I want the team's stable and sustainable development. In the 2008 season, I will invest 1000 million US dollars to improve the club's infrastructure, hire youth training coaches, and inject 2500 million US dollars into the team. signings; depending on the team's record, an additional investment of around US$800 million may be made in the mid-term."

"The players we buy should be mainly young players under the age of 25. We must focus on the future and not rush for quick success."

"In the 2009 season, my investment will not be lower than in the 2008 season. But starting from the 2010 season, my investment in the transfer market will gradually decrease, and I will increase my investment in youth training. talent."

"In addition, I have established cooperative relations with many football schools and clubs in China. The clubs should take on the responsibility of cultivating young football talents for China. In this area, I will invest 1000 million US dollars in the first phase, and invest 500-800 million US dollars every year. US dollars, the short-term goal is to have Chinese players who can play the main force in the club within 3 years..."

After Licado finished his speech, there was warm applause in the conference room.

Regardless of whether he is right or not—he is the major shareholder, his benefactor, and he promises an annual investment of tens of millions of dollars, which deserves the applause.

Although some high-level officials had doubts about Ricardo's "cooperation with China" policy, Ricardo did paint a beautiful picture for them.

As long as he really invests so much money every year as promised, Botafogo will definitely become a South American powerhouse again in 3 to 5 years.

Why are South American teams performing worse and worse?It's not poor.

Don't look at the fact that European giants often spend a lot of money to buy players in Brazilian teams, but Brazil has its own unique system. The ownership of many players does not belong to the club, but more than half of them are in the hands of their agents.

Real Madrid spent 700 million US dollars to introduce Marcelo, of which Fluminense only got more than 200 million, and all the rest went into the pockets of Marcelo's agent.

In another time and space, Neymar moved to Barcelona. Barcelona spent about 6300 million US dollars, of which [-] million US dollars was the transfer fee, and the remaining tens of millions of dollars were Neymar's signing fee and his agent's commission.

Of the $6300 million transfer fee, Santos only got $2500 million, and the rest went into the pockets of Neymar's agent.

In Brazil, and some other South American countries, this has become the norm.

The agent discovers an excellent football seedling, first spends a small sum of money to sign the player, buys a certain percentage of his ownership, and then recommends him to the club.If the player is kicked out, when the player is transferred, the agent can follow suit.

An agent signs hundreds of players, as long as one or two of them are successful and transfer to Europe at a high price, the agent can get a hundred or ten times the profit.

This is a bad habit in South American football. At the meeting, Ricardo asked the club to train players who have not been bought out by the agent as much as possible in the future, expand the scope of selection, and strengthen the scout team.

Within three years, he will invest 1000 million US dollars in the construction of the scouting network. The money will be used to pay liquidated damages, salaries, transportation subsidies for big-name scouts, and for the club to hold draft camps, etc.

Although Ricardo hated this kind of bad habits, he founded a new agency company, which is responsible for introducing outstanding young players selected from Chinese football schools and draft activities to Botafogo. All of them have signed contracts with his brokerage company, and the ownership of these players is usually 50%-80% owned by his brokerage company.

After the meeting, accompanied by the club's senior management, Ricardo visited the training of the club's U18, U16, U14, U12 and other echelons.

Then he met with the Chinese teenagers who had recently come to the club.

The little ones were very excited when they saw Licado, and some were even too nervous to speak.

Ricardo shook hands with them cordially, took photos with them, changed into jerseys, and went off to train with them in person.

There are 6 Chinese teenagers in this first group, the oldest is 17 years old, and the youngest is 14 years old. Three of them are middle and high school students selected through nationwide draft activities, and three of them were former youth echelons of professional clubs or football schools. student, because he longed for the opportunity to go abroad, he switched to Ricardo's brokerage company.

According to the head coach of the youth team, the performance of these six young players was mediocre, and they were basically at a disadvantage in comparison with the Brazilian young players of the same age. seedling.

Several months after coming here, several of them miss their hometown very much, and have already begun to think about leaving.

Ricardo didn't take it seriously.This is only the first batch, and there will be a steady stream of Chinese teenagers coming here in the future, and there will always be geniuses among them.

He instructed the hired Chinese translators and Chinese team leaders to pay more attention to the mental health of these children and help them integrate into training and life in Brazil as soon as possible.

If you really can't bear to leave, you can send them back to China, and don't waste the club's precious resources.

(End of this chapter)