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Chu Zhongtian felt very amazing when he saw that the Hoffenheim team had sent him a transfer invitation - what happened this summer? A group of teams used themselves as a tool to check and balance the players in the team who were making a move or a salary increase on the grounds of transfer, and now a team that did not know what level of the German league was in to show their interest...... He looked it up on the Internet. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

First of all, I used the Chinese search engine Baidu, and there was very little information to be found. Come to think of it, no one in China knows the name of this team, so what valuable information can there be?

He searched Hoffenheim in English directly, and found the official website of the club.

In Chu Zhongtian's memory, two seasons ago, Hoffenheim was still playing in Germany's third division.

In fact, there is no so-called "C League" in Germany, and below the German First Division and Second Division are the German North and South Regional Leagues, which are equivalent to the C Leagues of other countries in terms of level, so Chu Zhongtian will think that Hoffenheim is a team playing in the C League.

The regional leagues (Nord, suden_regionalliga) are divided according to geographical location, with the four southern states of Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Rheinpfko, and South Rhine being included in the Southern League, and the other federal states in the Northern League. The top two teams in each district were promoted to the Bundesliga, the bottom four in the South Division and the bottom five in the North Division were relegated.

Below the regional league is the German Superior Regional League (Oberliga), which is divided into five divisions in the north and four divisions in the south. The first place in each district is promoted to the regional league, and two to five teams are relegated each year, depending on the size of the regional league.

Further down is the German league (Landesliga/Verbandsliga), with five divisions in the north and four divisions in the south, depending on how many teams are promoted from the previous league. This is the last level of the professional league.

Further down is the amateur league, which is also the foundation of the real pyramid.

In the past, Chu Zhongtian always thought that the "C League" was an amateur league, which was due to his ignorance of German football, although CCTV has broadcast the Bundesliga for more than ten years, but he is not a Bundesliga fan, and rarely watches the Bundesliga broadcast. The only time he was interested in the Bundesliga was when Yang Chen shone in Frankfurt, and to be exact, he was not interested in the entire Bundesliga, but in a team in Frankfurt. Later, Yang Chen gradually couldn't play the main force in Frankfurt, and his performance was not as good as before, so he no longer watched Frankfurt's games, let alone the Bundesliga broadcast.

Hoffenheim's official website is in German, which is difficult for Chu Zhongtian. He studied German with Mathilde for a year, and he was able to meet the needs of daily life in listening, speaking, reading and writing.

He found Hoffenheim's all-time record from Hoffenheim's official website.

He noted that in the 2006-2007 season, Hoffenheim was still in the German North and South Regional League, and then the team was promoted to the second division with a second place finish in the Southern Regional League. In the 2007-2008 season, which just ended, Hoffenheim was promoted to the first division with a second place finish in the league, and finally entered the ranks of Germany's top league.

It turned out to be a triple jump...... Chu Zhongtian understood. I didn't expect that the little-known team to have such a big change after playing a warm-up match with them, and it was promoted two levels in a row for two consecutive years, and it became a promotion horse in the Bundesliga next season.

But if you keep promoting the Zebras, you want to let yourself join?

That's naïve, isn't it? It's not like I don't have to worry about the place to go, so many clubs want to join themselves, as long as they nod their heads, even AC Milan can go, why go to a promotion horse that doesn't have any European competitions and is not well-known? It's hard to say whether they will be able to stay in the Bundesliga after next season.

Chu Zhongtian didn't know anything about this team, and he wasn't interested in getting to know about it.

Without hesitation, he crossed the team off his shortlist.

※※※After the preliminary screening, Chu Zhongtian gave James. Merry called, intending to tell his opinion. But before he could say anything about his decision, he heard news that surprised him.

"Chu, are you in China?" James. Merry asked.

Chu Zhongtian replied: "Yes, I am at home in Chengdu. ”

"How's your family going?"

"Everything's fine, thank you for your concern, James."

"Well, that's good. I also have something to tell you that Hoffenheim's head coach Rangnick contacted me yesterday to meet with you. ”

Chu Zhongtian was stunned for a moment, and then reacted. "Hoffenheim's manager? Want to meet with me? ”

"Yes, there should be the name of their team in the list of teams I gave you that are interested in you. It's not a day or two that Rangnick is interested in you, Chu. I've spoken to him before, and I don't know if you still have an impression, but he's been interested in you since two seasons ago. Do you remember? In the 2005-2006 season, Metz played a warm-up match against Hoffenheim. ”

If it was a day ago, Chu Zhongtian wouldn't have remembered, but now he still remembers.

"The head coach of Hoffenheim in that game was not Rangnick. However, he had already received an invitation from the president of Hoffenheim and he was there that day. He noticed you and has been following your performance ever since. He told me that if Hoffenheim hadn't been promoted to the first division, he would have wanted to buy you a long time ago......"

Chu Zhongtian was dumbfounded when he heard it on the other end of the phone.

How did he know that the little-known team still had such a fate with him...... "Now he wants to meet with you, because he told me that he has a plan, but on the phone, or through me, it can't be expressed clearly, and only face-to-face communication can be made clear." He knows you know German, so communicating in person is the least barrier-free way. ”

"But I'm ...... in China"

"So he's going to China to find you."

Chu Zhongtian felt that this head coach named "Rangnick" was really crazy, he had never seen a head coach fly halfway around the world to meet in order to persuade a player to join...... However, he himself has little interest in joining Hoffenheim. He is now more inclined to join Villarreal and Fiorentina, both of whom qualify for the Champions League, with the Yellow Submarine playing directly and Fiorentina starting from qualifying.

"My opinion is that it doesn't hurt to see each other. Anyway, it's him running around, not you, you just have to wait for him in your own home. ”

Chu Zhongtian thought about it, since that Rangnick came to the door to see him in person with such sincerity, he couldn't say anything if he didn't see him. Just like James. As Merry said, there is nothing to lose when he meets the other party.

So he agreed.

※※※Since he has decided to meet this head coach, Chu Zhongtian will not fight an unprepared battle. He first had to understand what kind of coach this man was and what he was capable of leading a regional league team to promotion for two years in a row. He has never looked down on weak teams, because Metz was also weak before. But Metz has a very good head coach Jean. Fernandez. He wondered if Hoffenheim's rocket-like rise had something to do with the fact that they also had a great manager.

Thanks to his well-developed network, he was able to easily find a lot of information about Rangnick.

Born on June 29, 1958, Rangnick will be over 50 years old on June 29 this year, and his age as a coach has entered his prime.

He's been a player, but he doesn't have much to boast about. His entire football career has been spent in the lower leagues. But there is no such rule in the world - a successful manager must be a successful player before him.

So the poor experience of his playing days has not had any bad influence on him now.

He started his coaching career at Ulm's youth team before playing as a player-coach for his hometown side Baknan in the 1983/85 season, where he was impressed by a warm-up game against Dynamo Kyiv, led by Ukrainian football legend Lobonovsky. It's a whole new kind of football. In 1985-87 he coached Stuttgart as an amateur, but soon again as a player-coach he coached in Lippoldswiel, where he retired. After hanging up his boots, Rangnick started his coaching career at Cobb (sc_korb) and two years later returned to Stuttgart to resume coaching and managing the day-to-day affairs of the amateur team.

From that moment on, he became fascinated by AC Milan, coached by Sacchi. He would record every AC Milan game, edit and organise every part of the game, and build a database of players' movements on the pitch. To do that, you have to be a football-obsessed workaholic, and Rangnick is such a person. He even spent his vacation time in football, just to observe the training sessions of the then Foggia coach and legendary Czech coach Zeman.

In the 1995-96 season, Rangnick took charge of his first higher-level team, Rutlingen in the Southern Regional League, and in his first season he moved the team to fourth place, and in the second season, the team remained in the promotion bracket before Christmas, but Rangnick did not continue and switched to Ulm, where he had played. Due to his midway appointment, Rangnick's side finished sixth in the remaining half of the season, but in the second season, 1996-97, Rangnick managed to lead the team to promotion to the Bundesliga as league winners.

On December 19, 1998, in the German sports television program aktuelle_sportstudio, Rangnick, who was coaching in Ulm, held a magnetic tactical board on television, explaining his belief in the parallel back four and zone defense tactics. At the time, this was a new concept for German football, with most teams still using the scavenger defensive system. However, after the program was broadcast, it caused an uproar, and his school was not praised and supported, but was caricatured as a "professor" by those traditional forces. Although it is exactly the same title as the title of Premier League Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, it is far from it. At the time, Rangnick was considered to be just an academic coach, and his theories were nowhere near as good as the traditional German spirit and will.

On 3 May '99, Rangnick officially took over Stuttgart and finished 11th after playing the last five games of the season. Rangnick then embarked on his first full Bundesliga coaching stint by promoting 20-year-old Hildebrand (timo_hildebrand) and bringing in 23-year-old Bolden (marcelo_bordon) from Sao Paulo, finishing eighth in mid-table. In the 2000/01 season, he bought Hleb (alexander_hleb) for 150,000 euros, signed Tiffett (christian_tiffert) on a free transfer, promoted 18-year-old right-back Hinkel and Greek strikers Amanatidis (ioannis_amanatidis) and Vinzel (timo_wenzel). The team successfully passed the Toto Cup at the beginning of the season to enter the UEFA Cup, but it is clear that Rangnick is not prepared for the two-front battle, the team entered the last 16 of the UEFA Cup, but in the Bundesliga for a long time in the relegation quagmire, when the European competition was eliminated by Vigo Celta, Rangnick was also sacked by the club and dismissed, and Stuttgart finally narrowly relegated by only three points. However, Rangnick has already left the prototype for the youth storm that the team will set off in the future.

In the 2001-02 season, Rangnick returned to the Bundesliga to coach Hannover 96, leading the team to win the Bundesliga that year, returning to the Bundesliga after a gap of 13 years and scoring a record 93 goals in the Bundesliga. Hannover finished eleventh in the first season of the Bundesliga, but suffered a decline in the second season, but it is worth mentioning that Mertesacker (per_mertesacker), the main central defender of the German national team, was promoted to the first team by Rangnick this season and made his Bundesliga debut against Cologne. In March 2004, Rangnick was sacked by the club after a 1-0 defeat to Borussia Mönchengladbach and a five-game winless run.

On September 28, 2004, Rangnick succeeded Heynckes as Schalke 04 coach, although he was out of the first round of the UEFA Cup again, but he went all the way to the final in the German Cup, but finally lost to Bayern 1:2. In addition, in the race for the league title, Schalke is only behind Bayern. Although he failed to win the championship, the two runner-up results also allowed Rangnick to quickly conquer the hearts of the fans. In the second season, the team brought in Ernst (fabian_ernst) on a free basis, signed Kuranyi (kevin_dennis_kuranyi) and Rafinha (Rafinha), and promoted current Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer (manuel_neuer) from the Under-19 squad. However, the team had a mediocre record in the league, failed to qualify for the Champions League group stage, and lost 0:6 to Eintracht Frankfurt in the German Cup. Due to a disagreement with manager Asauer and the big names in the team, Rangnick left his post six months before his contract expired. However, before Asauer could sack him, the professor waved goodbye to the fans at the final home game against Mainz during the winter break. Schalke's impressive record of 88 points from 44 rounds has made him the best league record coach in the history of the Royal Blues.

Later, he signed with Hoffenheim, and Chu Zhongtian knew the next thing.

After reading these materials, Chu Zhongtian found that many of the stars he knew were related to this little-known head coach.

He had to take a fresh look at the coach.

This should definitely not be a "nobody", on the contrary, he does have quality, and his coaching in Bundesliga teams such as Stuttgart, Hannover 96, Schalke 04 says it all.

It seems that his success at Hoffenheim was definitely not luck...... He suddenly became interested in Rangnick as a person, curious, and eager to meet him.

※※※Two days later, Chu Zhongtian met Rangnick himself at Shuangliu International Airport in Chengdu.

Rangnick wears a pair of glasses and looks polite, not like a soccer coach, but like a gentleman who teaches at a school. It seems that the nickname "Professor" given to him by the Germans is really apt. Although this nickname was initially derogatory, Chu Zhongtian believed that with his achievements in Hoffenheim, the derogatory connotation of this nickname should be getting weaker and weaker.

"Hello, Mr. Rangnick." Chu Zhongtian, who was in charge of picking up the plane, took the initiative to stretch out his hand to the German man in front of him.

"Hello, Chu."

After the two exchanged greetings, Chu Zhongtian took Rangnick into the car. The driver was his Chinese agent, Xu Xiaodi.

"You don't look like a football coach at all, Mr. Rangnick."

"Haha!" Rangnick laughed. "You don't feel like you're a non-German German."

Chu Zhongtian arranged for Rangnick to be in a business hotel not far from his home. That's Rangnick's request, and he's not here for a vacation, so it doesn't matter where he stays. It would be best to be able to facilitate his communication with Chu Zhongtian, so Chu Zhongtian found him the closest hotel to his home, which was only a ten-minute walk.

After taking Rangnick to the hotel room, Chu Zhongtian was about to leave. He thought that Rangnick had been tired from his journey and should get some rest.

Unexpectedly, Rangnick grabbed Chu Zhongtian: "I want to talk to you now, Chu." If we can negotiate today, I will go back tomorrow. ”

"Don't be in such a hurry......" Chu Zhongtian smiled in surprise. You have a good rest today, and I'll take you for a walk tomorrow......"

Rangnick interrupted him with a shake of his head, "I'm not here to travel, Chu. After he said this, he smiled and looked at the junior high school is too difficult.

So what are you here for? Chu Zhongtian didn't ask this, because he knew what Rangnick was here for.

He looked at the door, then nodded, "Okay, Mr. Rangnick." Let me make a phone call with my agent so that he doesn't have to wait for me. ”

Then he took out his mobile phone and asked Xu Xiaodi to go back to the hotel by himself, no longer have to wait for him, and he had to stay with Rangnick. Then he called his home again, telling his parents that he might have to go back later, his mother told him to be safe, and his father told him to pay attention to the details and not be humble or arrogant in the process of talking to Rangnick.

All this last night, Chu Zhongtian turned off his mobile phone, and then looked at Rangnick: "We can talk now, Mr. Rangnick." ”

(To be continued)