Chapter 945 Double Insurance

Yang Huan once heard a very interesting joke.

Americans say, I am the biggest in the world and I can beat anyone I want. The British say, I am the second largest and I will beat whoever the American boss beats.

The French said, I will beat whoever hits me. The Japanese said, I will let my American father beat whoever hits me.

Although this is just a joke, it is a very interesting spoof of the current world situation.

It is obvious that the United States is the only superpower. They can even declare that they are in charge of everything that happens on this earth, so they are nicknamed the world police.

However, football, intentionally or unintentionally, plays the role of an exception.

Since the subprime mortgage crisis, although the government has proposed a plan to return to manufacturing, in fact, everyone knows that this is just a slogan, and the US government is also aware of this, so they have been actively looking for any means to stimulate economic recovery, including the sports industry that has high hopes.

In the United States, the sports industry is very large and its business model is very mature. It generates approximately $500 billion in market value each year and creates a very large number of jobs.

The NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL are known as the four major professional leagues in the United States, and their fans comprise nearly 70 percent of Americans.

However, soccer, the world's largest sport, is just beginning in the United States.

This can be said to be a major flaw in the American sports industry, but it can also be seen as a major opportunity.

Revitalizing the American football industry has become a major decision of the US government. In 2010, they even proposed a plan to revitalize the American football industry and applied for the right to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups at the same time.

This is not just about football, because when the US government put forward the plan, it also proposed a complete package of solutions including urban hardware construction and investment.

In other words, this has far exceeded the scope of football.

So at that time, dozens of cities in the United States applied for the hosting of the Games at the same time, and there were as many as eighteen cities shortlisted for the first time, all of which were famous big cities in the world.

At the same time, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Britain was also hit by the European debt crisis and economic downturn. It 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 follower, the second largest, figured it out at home and decided, let’s not fight each other, two plus one makes five, the UK will bid for 2018 and the US will bid for 2022, that’s it.

It sounds a lot like the time when Spain and Portugal divided the earth into the eastern and western halves.

But the problem is that their way of dealing with international affairs doesn't work at all when applied to the world of football.

When the hosting rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were announced, Americans and British were stunned.

Damn it, it would be fine if they didn’t give face to England in the 2018 World Cup, but they actually gave it to Russia?

Don't you, FIFA, know that we are imposing sanctions on Russia?

What’s more, the year 2022 was actually given to the small Middle Eastern country of Qatar?

Damn, my family was counting on the World Cup to revitalize the family, and you actually gave it to that rich guy in Qatar?

What is even more humiliating is that when voting for the right to host the 2018 World Cup, the UK only received two votes, one of which was cast for itself. It's so sad!

The situation of the United States was even worse, with a score of 8 to 14. The four European votes that had been secured in advance were eventually given to Qatar. It was a complete defeat.

This made the Americans and British angry.

Usually it’s just us two brothers who play with others, who can play with us?

What’s even more hateful is that not only did you play with one of us, you also played with both of us brothers together!

It’s true that you can tolerate your uncle but not your aunt!

So, once the Americans and British got angry, the FIFA corruption officially began!

Blatter was actually quite depressed about the whole thing.

The emperor of international football has always been accustomed to showing off his power in his own little territory, only caring about interests and not people. However, all this has obviously offended people whom he cannot afford to offend.

Regardless of whether he was doing this for personal gain or wanted to use this method to highlight FIFA's independence, he has gotten himself into trouble this time.

From the perspective of Qatar and Russia, they are the most worried.

Especially Qatar.

Russia's World Cup will be held in 2018. There are only three short years left. If Russia is hastily eliminated, no one will be able to take over. Therefore, there should be no problem with Russia's World Cup.

But the same cannot be said for Qatar.

This is why Prime Minister Hamad and the Qatari government are so worried.

What if America gets excited and really snatches the right to host the 2022 World Cup?

Originally, in Qatar's view, it would be a good thing if Platini could be successfully elected as the President of FIFA.

But judging from the current situation, things seem to have gone beyond everyone's imagination.

With Blatter's downfall, Platini is unlikely to be spared.

This was something Yang Huan had never imagined before.

The waters are getting muddier and muddier, and even Platini is caught up in it.

Even Yang Huan had to admit that he had indeed miscalculated.

However, after listening to Prime Minister Hamad's concerns, Yang Huan shook his head again, "Even if Platini is finished, so what?"

"What do you mean?" Hamad was a little confused.

Yang Huan smiled and shook his head. "UEFA has already made a backup plan. If Platini is in trouble, they will push Secretary General Gianni Infantino to run for the position. He is Swiss and a lawyer. He has done a lot of work in the fight against corruption and gambling in European football in recent years, so..."

When Prime Minister Hamad heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up.

Isn’t the problem FIFA is facing now the problem of corruption?

At this time, isn't it just right for a neutral yet resolute Swiss lawyer to serve as FIFA president?

More importantly, although Infantini is a backup and not very famous, I am afraid that few people will have a problem with him. Even in the eyes of Americans, it is much better to be in charge by a Swiss than by someone from the Middle East, Africa, South America and other regions, right?

At least, it was white European, okay?

"Gianni Infantino..." Prime Minister Hamad read the name, which was completely unfamiliar.

"Who is it?" he asked his beloved son beside him.

Hamad, the little prince from the Middle East, was also completely clueless and shook his head, saying, “I don’t know.”

Prime Minister Hamad almost slapped him in the face. Are you trying to fool me?

We all went to play in European football, so why are you so different from Young Master Huan?

Look at Master Huan, how capable and talented he is.

If you were half as good as Master Huan, I would have less worries!

"Gianni Infantino is the host of every Champions League draw ceremony, the bald guy!" Yang Huan said with a smile.

He also has a good relationship with Infantino. After all, that came from Platini.

Now UEFA and Platini have the same attitude. If Platini is able to run for election, he will come forward and UEFA will fully support Platini.

But if the situation is not right and Platini cannot run for election, then we will concentrate all resources to fully support Infantino.

Yang Huan has a good relationship with Infantino, so of course he is happy to see this happen.

Anyway, no matter who is elected, it has nothing to do with us Chinese, so it is better to think about how to make money.

Although there will be Asian candidates participating, 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 disadvantageous.

The AFC's internal power struggle has never stopped, which has led to internal disunity and even division into two major factions: East Asia and West Asia. Prince Ali belongs to the West Asian faction.

In order to run against Blatter for the FIFA presidency, Prince Ali tried every means to win over UEFA, but in the end, Blatter won most of the votes in Asia and Africa, which almost made him a sure winner.

In short, the struggle here is not just divided by simple regions, but is more complicated.

In Yang Huan's opinion, if there were Chinese involved, he would definitely support it with all his strength, but since there were no Chinese involved, between Gianni Infantino and Ali and others, he would of course choose the former.

"Master Huan, do you mean that Infantino will replace Platini?"

Yang Huan smiled slightly, "This is double insurance!"

"The 2022 World Cup..."

You know, the emperor has already made some tough remarks, and he seems to be ready to use aircraft carriers and missiles to defend the right to host the World Cup. Therefore, there should be no problem in hosting the 2018 World Cup.

Who the hell is crazy enough to compete with Russia?

But in 2022, firstly, there is still a lot of time to prepare, and secondly, Qatar does not have much say, and dare not say much when being bullied. Isn't this the best way to scare the monkeys?

Yang Huan knew very well what Prime Minister Hamad and the Qatari government were thinking.

To be honest, Qatar is nothing in front of big countries like the United States, Russia and the United Kingdom.

"This July, the North American Gold Cup will be held in the United States. In the past 24 years, the Gold Cup has been held 12 times, 11 of which were held in the United States. This time, the United States has launched a total of 13 host cities."

"Next July, the South American Football Association will launch the Copa America Centennial Tournament, which will invite 16 South American teams to participate, more than the 12 teams in the Copa America. The venue of the tournament will also leave South America and be held in ten cities in the United States."

"In 2017, we will host the North American Gold Cup. In addition, at the end of July every year, we will host the International Champions Cup, as well as a series of other supporting warm-up events. Therefore, in the next few years, the soccer craze in the United States will continue to grow."

Upon hearing what Young Master Huan said, Prime Minister Hamad's heart trembled.

What does this mean?

If what Master Huan said is true, doesn't it mean that the United States is very interested in the 2022 World Cup?

You know, if Qatar's bid to host the World Cup is declared illegal in 2016, there will still be six years of preparation time until 2022, which is more than enough for the United States.

This is also fully in line with the United States' football revitalization strategy in the past, present, and future years.

But for Qatar, this was a devastating disaster.

They have paid so much to bid for the World Cup and invested so much money in building World Cup venues and other supporting facilities. If the World Cup does not come, won't everything they have done be wasted?

But Qatar has no way to deal with this.

Because things were completely beyond their expectations.

It should be said that things got out of control when the United States and Britain intervened in FIFA in a strong way.

They can hardly protect themselves now!

Thinking of this, Prime Minister Hamad was really panicked.

Because he knew very well that as a small country in the Middle East, Qatar had no power to stop this, unless...

Prime Minister Hamad immediately raised his head and looked at Young Master Yang Huan who looked calm and composed.