The next day, the 1999 European Ballon d'Or and the previous night's European Champions Cup were discussed throughout Europe.

Italy's Rome Sport - The god of war fell at Bayer Leverkusen, and although Batistuta was very hopeful of winning this year's European Ballon d'Or and scored a shocking goal in last night's game, he failed to bring Fiorentina a victory at Bayer Leverkusen, and the powerful Chinese led the team to give Fiorentina a fatal defeat, and he himself was a candidate for the top 20 of the European Ballon d'Or.

The newspaper Sport put the spotlight on Rui Costa and Zheng Zhi – a battle that ended in a big win for Zheng Zhi, a match that showed Silvio Berlusconi and Galliani that Zheng Zhi is the best future for AC Milan, and from Zheng Zhi, we seem to see the shadow of Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit. But there is a better solution, which is to buy both of them at the same time, with Rui Costa playing in the front and Zheng Zhi in the back, which may be the most perfect combination in the world.

Torino Sport – It looks like neither Italian side can go far in the Champions League, neither Fiorentina nor Bayer Leverkusen have shown enough quality to win the Champions Cup, and it is unrealistic to expect both of them to win glory for Italy when Juventus and AC Milan are unable to appear in the Champions League.

Germany.

"Kicker" praised Leverkusen and Zheng Zhi - Mateus left, but he is still one of the candidates for the Golden Ball, and the future belongs to Zheng Zhi, and perhaps to Leverkusen, another star-studded night, another night when Chinese dominate the game, and he was also rewarded as a candidate for the Golden Globe. It is a pity that many of the best German players did not make it to the top 20, such as Basler, Effenberg and so on.

"Bild" said - he is not a Ballon d'Or winner, but he shines more than any player, he is the Chinese Zheng Zhi, he is the brightest jewel in the crown, but unfortunately his team can not give him enough support, but so what? Maybe this time next year, he'll pick it up at the age of 20!

"Eintracht Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" quoted Frankfurt coach Schuster's original words - look at the midfielders who were shortlisted for the Ballon d'Or, how many players dare to say that they are stronger than Zheng Zhi? Let Zheng Zhi change teams with them, and Zheng Zhi can also lead the team to achieve those achievements. In fact, Zheng Zhi has reached the level of the Ballon d'Or, all he lacks is team glory, he should choose a better team to play for, and of course, if he can also lead Bayer Leverkusen to success.

Although January 2000 is still a little over a month away, the release of the Ballon d'Or shortlist has already boiled the world of football. As for the winners of the 1999 Golden Globe Awards, the major spinach companies in Europe have also listed their odds of winning.

In first place is Rivaldo of Barcelona, second is Beckham of England Manchester United Club, third is AC Milan striker Ukrainian nuclear warhead, and fourth is the god of war Batistuta, 20 candidates for the Ballon d'Or have been excluded.

Two-time Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo is not even in the top 10 and is in 19th place for the simple reason that he has had too many injuries this year, and although he has been in good form every time he returns, his performance time has been too short. It has been said that if a non-injured Ronaldo stands on the pitch, there is no one to be his opponent at all. But God gave him injuries and sick, and brought him closer to mortals.

And last year's Ballon d'Or winner Zinedine Zidane is also ranked outside the top ten, because although he led Juventus to the Champions League semifinals last season, his results in the league were so miserable that Spinach put him in 18th place, just one place higher than the alien Ronaldo.

As for Zheng Zhi?

It's really just in 20th place. There is no way, the first 19 players, whether it is fame or team honor, are better than him, this is the disadvantage. Now is not the time for him to win the Ballon d'Or.

But even so, the news of Zheng Zhi's shortlisting swept the whole of China.

"On the possibility of Zheng Zhi winning the 1999 European Golden Globe? - "Sports Weekly" actually published such unreliable news on the front page. Knowing that this is not possible, they still write it like this, which is not clear because they want to increase sales.

The newspaper is naturally crazy to sell, especially in the early morning in the CCBV5 sports news after seeing Zheng Zhi shortlisted for the Golden Ball Award candidate, almost everyone who loves football will run to the newsstand at about 11 o'clock in the morning to buy a copy of the "Sports Weekly" to see, CCBV5's sports news is just a few sentences, and the "Sports Weekly" report is definitely the most detailed. Others, more well-equipped, go online to browse sports news on websites.

On this day, for Chinese fans, there is only football, only Zheng Zhi.

In the streets, everyone was talking about Sports Weekly, and they even forgot that Bayer Leverkusen beat Fiorentina in the Champions League last night.

"Sports Weekly" is too mysterious, it's impossible to win the award,"

Although Zheng Zhi led Eintracht Frankfurt to the Champions League qualification round last season, this result still did not win the Ballon d'Or. Although Zheng Zhi's performance is outstanding, a Bundesliga Best Newcomer Award is not enough, if there is a Bundesliga champion, the probability will be much greater, but it still can't. ”

"As far as the midfielders in the top 20 are concerned, none of them are worse than him."

"It also says that the number of goals and assists is a bit hopeful, but it is not good, if it is compared, then the striker's goal statistics will be more advantageous. The Ballon d'Or was originally an award for strikers to take advantage of. ”

Sometimes people are like this, knowing that they can't get it, but they still fantasize about too many unrealistic reasons. It's like a breakup between a man and a woman, and the person who is abandoned by the other person always looks for many, many reasons to leave for the person who abandoned him, but the result is pale......

Flatter yourself.

However, Chinese fans do not need to be disappointed, which in itself is not something that should be disappointed, not to mention, there is a continuous stream of good news.

The next day, after France Football announced the 20-man selection for the Ballon d'Or, FIFA also made a move.

In addition to the Ballon d'Or, there is also a World Footballer of the Year.

The 1999 World Footballer of the Year shortlist has also come out, and there is a difference between the list and the Ballon d'Or shortlist.

In the list first revealed by the Spanish newspaper "As", Zheng Zhi is also on the list, although the names of the 20 players are slightly different, but they are still about the same. Pep Guardiola, Didier Deschamps and Bergkamp, who were on the Ballon d'Or list, are gone, replaced by Basler, Effenberg and Owen.

This is true every year, and although the World Footballer of the Year and Ballon d'Or awards are the highest honors, the winners are not necessarily the same.

For example, the Ballon d'Or winners in 1991, 1994 and 1996 are not the same as World Footballer of the Year.

The 1991 Ballon d'Or was Frenchman Papin, and the World Footballer of the Year was Mateus.

The 1994 Ballon d'Or went to Stoichkov and the World Footballer of the Year went to Romario.

The winner of the 1996 Ballon d'Or was Summer, and the World Footballer of the Year was Ronaldo.

Because the judges are different. The Ballon d'Or is an annual award given to the best European player by the football magazine France Football and voted for by a group of professional sports journalists. Initially, the Ballon d'Or was only awarded to European players who played for European clubs, but since 1995 it has been extended to all players playing in Europe.

Compared with the Ballon d'Or, the World Footballer of the Year is considered a "rising star". FIFA drafts a list of candidates, which is then voted on by the head coach and captain of each national team.

Generally speaking, the Golden Globe Awards are more authoritative, after all, they are selected by professional sports reporters, which is more objective. As for the World Footballer of the Year, in the current situation where the media is not so developed, fame may occupy a certain component. A lot of national team managers and captains don't watch the game much at all.

However, Spinach still put Rivaldo and Beckham in first and second place, but the third place has changed, the third odds for the Ballon d'Or are Shevchenko, and the World Footballer of the Year has become Batistuta.

As for Zheng Zhi's ranking, he also rose from 20th to 18th, and behind them happened to be Effingberg and Basler.

"That's right,"

"No matter what, it can't be the last one,"

"Zheng Zhi's performance is better than many people, these are obviously two individual awards, why do you have to compare team honors? Let's assume that a very good striker wins the top scorer in a relegation team, is his performance not enough to win the award? It seems that the world footballer of the year is fair, what did Ronaldo have in 1996? There was just a crazy goal, and he won the World Footballer of the Year. ”

"Perhaps, Zheng Zhi has hope to counterattack in the world footballer of the year? At least make it to the top 10, right? How amazing is your performance? ”

Chinese fans are hopeful again, not asking Zheng Zhi to win the award, but only asking for his ranking to be further improved in the World Footballer of the Year selection.

"Sports Weekly" is naturally going to shout for Zheng Zhi again, and the editor-in-chief Qu Youyuan even wrote an article for Zheng Zhi himself - Zheng Zhi is worthy of being the first in Asia.

- At the turn of the century, Asia produced the strongest player of all time. Nowadays, we no longer need to envy Koreans for having Cha Fan Gen, nor do we need to cover up our shame with the ancient figure Lee Hye-tang, and we don't need to worry about Japan having Nakata Hidetoshi. Because, we have Zheng Zhi!

——In this year's AFC Awards, if nothing else, Zheng Zhi will once again beat Hidetoshi Nakata and win the 1999 Asian Footballer of the Year!

Qu Weiyuan revealed another news in the article, Zheng Zhi is going to defend the Asian Footballer of the Year!

It's really a happy event, and it's going to be three happy things.

Soon, various media outlets immediately called the AFC to inquire about the accuracy of the message. The AFC was quick to give an answer.

Zheng Zhi was indeed selected as the trio of the year, but there is no comment on whether he will defend the Asian Footballer of the Year award, and it will only be revealed on the day of the awards.

In fact, even if you think about it on your heels, you know that Zheng Zhi will definitely win the award. What can the opponent Hidetoshi Nakata come up with? Although he is also good enough, there is no way to compare him with Zheng Zhi.

A year ago, his performance could still compete with Zheng Zhi, but after a year, there is no way, Nakata Hidetoshi can be said to be Asian-level, but Zheng Zhi is already sweeping Europe. It's not that Hidetoshi Nakata is not good, but Zheng Zhi is about to soar into the sky!

And that's not all, at the turn of the century, the world of sports has made all kinds of selections.

The U.S.-based Sports Illustrated, the nation's most influential sports magazine, has selected 42 of the best athletes of the century to compete for eight sports awards. Athlete of the Century, Football (American) Player of the Century, Ice Hockey Player of the Century, Basketball Player of the Century, Baseball Player of the Century, Olympic Athlete of the Century, Women's Individual Athlete of the Century, Men's Individual Athlete of the Century......

Only, there is no such thing as football.

However, football, as the biggest sport in the world, does not need the support of Sports Illustrated. FIFA, UEFA, the Olympic Committee, and the media of European football associations have all selected the best footballers in their countries, Europe, and the world, and the whole world is crazy about football.

And China is not idle, they are also selecting, the same is about the best of the century, but China's best of the century, led by the Football Association, "Sports Weekly" is responsible for publicity, a total of 11 people's names are provided - Li Huitang, Zhang Junxiu, Zhang Honggen, Rong Zhixing, Chi Shangbin, Gu Guangming, Jia Xiuquan, Fan Zhiyi, Hao Haixi, Sun Wen, Zheng Zhi are on the list.

These are all famous figures in Chinese football. The top ten are basically already famous, but Zheng Zhicai has only been shortlisted for two years after his debut.

The Weekly Sport launched a poll in the newspaper, cutting out the paper's voting column, ticking the names of the players, and sending them to the newspaper, where they would count the final player of the century.

outcome

Fans across the country went crazy. Naturally, the sales of "Sports Weekly" are also crazy out of stock, and the current issue of the newspaper, which originally only circulated 3 million copies, is simply not enough! It wasn't enough to print another 1 million copies that afternoon!

There is only one reason, everyone wants to vote for Zheng Zhi!

"It must be Zheng Zhi!"

"Except for Zheng Zhi, everyone else is not qualified, of course Sun Wen can, he led the heroine to win the second place in the World Cup, what are the others?"

"Even if Li Huitang is an ancient figure, I haven't seen him play, they are all historical figures."

"Zheng Zhi, it must be Zheng Zhi!"

"The second place is Sun Wen!"

The fans were very enthusiastic, and the streets and alleys were full of fun.

"We must put Zheng Zhi on the altar,"

"It's awesome, at the age of 20, he was elected the best player of the century in China, haha, I can't imagine it. I believe that this result will definitely happen, and Chinese fans must think so. ”

"A hundred years, a hundred years, I'll wait for a Zheng Zhi!"

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