"What kind of team is Sutton United?"

There were still ten days left before the warm-up game, and when he didn't have to go to the King's Ranch for training, Chu Zhongtian was working at the Dons Bar. Unlike before, Emily now comes to him often.

Like today.

Emily had a glass of beer in front of her, and she sat on a high stool in front of the bar, discussing with the bartender Chu Zhongtian about the opponent of AFC Wimbledon next game. The drinkers were all old acquaintances, and after they came, there was no one to bother the two of them.

Chu Zhongtian didn't know anything about the opponent they were about to face. This is perhaps a problem that is often encountered in amateur competitions. These teams are too unrecognizable, and as opponents, it is not known who the most dangerous person in their team is, what tactical style of play they are good at, and what their form has been in in the last few games. It's not like a professional league where there are dedicated scouts who collect this information and then hand it over to the coaching staff to analyze and work on countermeasures. Even without scouts, the exposure of a professional team is enough for their opponents to get some useful information from the news. Like now, with a black eye, I don't know anything except until they called Sutton United.

"It's a team that's one level above us. They are best known for beating Coventry, then sixth in the top flight, 13 years ago in the 1989 FA Cup, a team that had not even played in the league, 2-1 after winning the FA Cup. But Sutton United won't be without a ball to play – we're playing in the ninth tier and they're playing in the eighth tier. Emily said.

As soon as he heard about the ninth-level league and the eighth-level league, Chu Zhongtian had a headache. England's league system is intricate and varied, and he is an outsider, and he gets dizzy just by looking at the list of names of those leagues, and he can't figure out what is the ninth and eighth leagues. "Oh my God...... Emily, I still don't understand me when you tell me about the ninth and eighth levels. What level is level 9 and what level is level 8? Also, what are the nine leagues of these nine leagues? I don't know at all......" Chu Zhongtian spread out his hand, looking distressed.

Seeing Chu Zhongtian like this, Emily also felt that she had been a little underconsidered before, and she was naturally very clear about England's league system. But just because she knows it doesn't mean that others know it, let alone a foreigner......

"Okay, let me teach you a lesson today, Chu." Emily makes a push motion for her glasses, even though there is nothing on the bridge of her nose. But this action shows her identity as a teacher.

Emily planned to introduce Chu Zhongtian to the league classification in England, so as not to make him confused in the future. But after thinking about it for a long time, I don't know how to talk about it, because England's league system is too large and complicated, and I am afraid that it will waste half a day of saliva just by saying it, and I may not be able to explain the classification of this song clearly. She thought about it and decided to draw a description that was simple and intuitive, and it was clear at a glance.

"Uh, Chu. To put it simply, our league is like a pyramid. Emily took the pen in Chu Zhongtian's hand, pulled a piece of paper and drew on it. The pinnacle of the pyramid is the Premier League (the_fa_premier_league), you must know this, right? ”

Chu Zhongtian nodded, the Premier League is so famous, how could he not know. If you don't know, is he really a fan?

"Below the Premier League is the English Football League (the_football_league), which includes three divisions of league - League One (future Championship), League Two (future League One) and League C (future League Two)."

This Chu Zhongtian also has a general understanding, after all, Wimbledon is playing in League One.

"The three leagues and the Premier League together have a total of 92 clubs that are collectively referred to as 'league teams' and are all all-professional clubs. The other teams are collectively referred to as 'non-league teams'. Do you know the League Cup, Chu? ”

Chu Zhongtian nodded. "The third biggest cup competition in English football."

"Yes, the League Cup is actually a cup set up by the English Football League to compete with the FA's FA Cup. So the teams participating can only be ninety-two league teams. The FA Cup, unlike the League Cup, is open to all teams that have competed, both professional and amateur. That's why the FA Cup will be called a 'hotbed of underdogs' by the media. ”

In the past, Chu Zhongtian really didn't know much about the differences between the FA Cup and the League Cup, he only thought that the FA Cup had a long history, and the League Cup was like chicken ribs. Now, after hearing Emily say that even amateur teams are eligible for the FA Cup, a light flashed through his mind and he interjected: "So we have a chance to play against those strong teams in the Premier League?" ”

Emily glanced at Chu Zhongtian strangely. How did this person's ideas go so far? The ninth tier of the league has not yet started, and I am thinking about playing against the Premier League team first.

"Theoretically...... Yes, you can. But this year we can't participate. ”

"Why is that?" Chu Zhongtian completely regarded the beautiful girl in front of him as a British football encyclopedia, and asked if there was anything he didn't understand, and Emily didn't disappoint him.

'Because we haven't played a single game that the English FA has deemed 'acceptable'.

"We're going to play Sutton United soon......

'It was just a friendly and it wasn't in the category that the FA considered 'acceptable'. Emily gently tapped Chu Zhongtian's head with the pen, she did this action very naturally, but after doing it, she felt that something was wrong, why did she make this kind of intimate action so naturally?

However, Chu Zhongtian didn't care about her action, but continued to think about the FA Cup: "Then what qualifications do you have to participate in the FA Cup?" ”

This question helped Emily out, she stroked her hair that fell down, and explained to Chu Zhongtian: "When we play in the league, we can participate in the FA Cup." or have played an English FA Pin (fa_vase) match and are also eligible for the FA Cup. Emily wrenched her fingers and counted Chu Zhongtian. As early as next year, in the 03-04 season, we will be able to play in the FA Cup! (Author's note: Actually, you need to play in the FA Bottle before you can play in the FA Cup.) The real AFC Wimbledon only participated in the FA Cup after participating in the FA bottle. They competed in the FA Bottle in the 03-04 season and only played in the FA Cup for the first time in the 04-05 season. But for the sake of the progress of the plot of the novel, I made some modifications and adjustments, anyway, it's a novel, it's a fictional story, and it's in the context of reality. Some details don't need to be too serious, everything is focused on plot development, and everyone doesn't want to watch Chu Zhongtian fight in the ninth-level league for three seasons, right? ）

Chu Zhongtian was not as excited as Emily. He was a little discouraged at the thought of waiting for another year. Then he waved his hand: "Okay, there is no need to count on it at the moment. Then you say, Emily. ”

"Say what?" Emily was interrupted by Chu Zhongtian just now, and forgot where she was talking about.

"You've just finished talking about ninety-two league teams." Chu Zhongtian reminded.

"Oh, yes." Emily slapped her face. She continued to draw the lower layers of the pyramid on paper. "There are four divisions in the Football League, followed by the English Football Association (the_football_conference). It consists of two divisions, the higher division being the National League (conference_national), which is the fifth division. Underneath it there are two groups tied for the National North League and the National South League, both of which are the sixth division. There are a total of sixty-six clubs in these two divisions, with a small number being all-professional and most being semi-professional. ”

Emily explained while writing on a piece of paper for Chu Zhongtian to read. Chu Zhongtian nodded frequently, remembering everything Emily said.

"The FA League is the lowest level of national leagues, and then there are regional leagues, which are the seventh division. The three regional leagues are tied for status and are divided by geography, although there is sometimes overlap. The Northern League covers the North of England, while the Southern League covers the Midland, parts of Wales, and the South, but excludes the South East. The Ismien league covers the south-east, with London in the Ismien league. ”

"Strange." Chu Zhongtian, who has been a listener, found a problem, "Other regional leagues are named according to the regions they cover, such as the northern league and the southern league, why is the league covering the southeast of the UK not called the 'South East League', but the name 'Ismian'?" Isthmus League? ”

Emily shrugged: "It is said to commemorate an ancient Greek sports event called 'Isthmian'. But I don't know why it's called that. ”

"Oh......" Actually, Chu Zhongtian still didn't understand. But this question doesn't matter, you can call it anything, the name is just a codename, what matters is what the name represents, not the name itself.

"All three leagues have sub-leagues. Northern Premier League, Northern First Division, Southern Premier League, Southern First Division Western League, Southern First Division Eastern League, Ismien Premier League, Ismian First Division, Ismian Second Division. ”

The pyramid is still stretching down.

"The Northern Premier League, the Southern Premier League, and the Ismian Premier League are all seventh tier leagues, while the Northern First Division, the Southern First Division, the Eastern League, and the Southern First Division Western League, as well as the Ismian First Division, are all eighth tier competitions. Our warm-up opponents, Sutton United, are in the Ismien First Division. ”

"The Ismien second division is the ninth division, and there are fifteen other regional leagues in the same division. Our upcoming Mixed County Soccer League Premier League (CCL) is also among them. So we're a team in the ninth division. ”

At this point, the pyramid has not been finished. But Emily put an ellipsis underneath this level of the ninth league.

"There's also the 10th and 11th divisions. But the further down the road becomes, the more complicated it becomes, and I can't tell you for a while, and there are some things I can't remember......" Emily shook her head and looked at the pyramid she had drawn. "Anyway, the leagues from the fifth to the eleventh tier are collectively known as the 'national league system' (national_league_system) and are under the direct jurisdiction of the FA. From there, it's all under the management of the local FA. ”

She finished explaining, but she didn't hear Chu Zhongtian respond. A little unhappy, she looked up, only to find that Chu Zhongtian had been staring down at the pyramid on the paper and was silent.

Looking at the huge pyramid with clear layers in front of him, Chu Zhongtian suddenly thought of Chinese football. People always say things like "can't we even pick out 11 of our 1.3 billion people who can play football", but they never thought that there are 1.3 billion people who play football in China?

There is no top-down league system, everyone fights on their own, and when they think of organizing a game, they forget it if they can't think of it. Although there are many football enthusiasts in China who play with friends on weekends, the lack of unified and effective management makes the already scarce resources even more wasted. Another problem with the lack of effective and unified league management is that children and parents who love to play football and are ready to make football a profession do not have any hope of success.

In England, even amateur teams can play in a fixed league, and as long as they play well, they can rise through the ranks and eventually become a professional player. If he has the opportunity to play against a Premier League side in the FA Cup and perform well, he may be able to make a name for himself by one goal, attract a large number of scouts from professional teams, and turn his life path around.

In China, there will be no such opportunity. If you want to take football as a career, you can only go to the echelon of a professional football club, or a football school that is uneven, and the echelon and football school that monopolize the market can naturally open your mouth to the parents who send their children to play football, and the tuition and training fees themselves are outrageously high. If you don't come out with money, no matter how good your talent and level are, you can only rot on the bench, and you can't get the opportunity to be recommended to join a professional team, wasting more than ten years of youth in vain. It takes more than a million to train a professional player at home, and how many people can afford it at a huge price? Those teenagers who have talent but no money and no way can only get farther and farther away from football. In this way, China's football talent is slowly withering.

He is also a fan of football, born in England and born in China...... Why is the gap so big?

Perhaps, when China's amateur leagues, city leagues, and student leagues can flourish, there will be some hope for Chinese football, right?

※※※

"Chu?"

Emily stretched out her hand and shook it in front of Chu Zhongtian's eyes.

"Ah, Emily...... Sorry, I'm distracted. ”

Emily shrugged, she didn't ask Chu Zhongtian why he was distracted.

"Sutton United are one level above us and should be better than us. And we're a new team, and they've been playing together for a long time, so they know better than we do. Did Mr. Eames practice tactical coordination or anything like that during this time? She asked.

Chu Zhongtian shook his head: "No." It's just physical and technical, very little tactically. ”

Emily couldn't figure out what Eames was going to do, "Anyway, it's just the first game, and the opponent is better than us, so just do your best." Will you be able to play then, Chu? ”

Chu Zhongtian continued to shake his head, he felt that Emily had asked this question a lot: "How do I know now?" I'm not a manager or anything......"

"You can see it from your own performance, if you do well in training, you have a chance to play for the team......" Emily pouted.

"Uh......" Chu Zhongtian suddenly didn't know what to say. He never mentioned to Emily that he and Russell were angry with each other in training, and if Emily knew that she would be left behind to be punished after every training session, she would never ask questions like "will you play......

When she saw the head coach torturing Chu Zhongtian like this, she would definitely think that Eames and Chu Zhongtian had a grudge. Last game? Don't even think about it!

"What about yourself?" Emily asked, "Do you want to play yourself?" ”

"Of course I hope, who is not playing for the game?" Chu Zhongtian asked Emily rhetorically.

If it weren't for that humiliating 5-0, he hadn't played a football game in three years, and after a month of training, he was really, really eager to be in the game, not just in training.

Run as hard as he wants, engage in relentless physical collisions with his opponents, experience the tension and excitement that only a game can bring, rush over and hug and cheer if his team scores, and find a way to return the favor if he concedes a goal.

That's the game of football. The lack of confrontational training is not comparable, although it is a confrontation for him and Russell to punish each other on the training ground......

※※※

"Tomorrow is the game, so today we won't punish the group that performs the worst in training." Eames said as he glanced at Chu Zhongtian and Russell.

"Let me make sure who will be able to play tomorrow?"

All thirty-five people on the training ground raised their hands.

"Okay, no problem." Eames nodded, telling them to put their hands down.

"For the sake of saving money for the club, I would like to ask you to drive or take a car to the stadium tomorrow, but I am afraid you will not find it, so I will meet here tomorrow at half past two in the afternoon, and then we will drive to the stadium as a group. Bring your sneakers and the jersey will be handed out to you when you get to the bus. ”

With that, Eames looked at the crowd and saw that they were still looking at him with expectant eyes. He knew what those people were expecting.

"I'm not going to announce the starting lineup here."

The light in everyone's eyes dimmed.

"Lest some of you sleep hard at night. Have a good night's rest, tomorrow is your first game, give me a good drink! That's it, let's all go home now. ”

Almost everyone left the pitch looking forward to tomorrow's game. It was as if they had seen one goal after another, and after the victory, they were surrounded by many fans and returned with glory.

How wonderful......

※※※

ps, because this chapter is mainly about the league system at all levels in England, so that everyone can figure out the level of the league Wimbledon is now in and the gap between it and the top league, so there is more information.

With this in mind, two complete chapters will be posted today, so as not to wait for a day to see some information.

Therefore, the afternoon update is still a complete chapter~~~

How's that, Lin Hai is interesting, right? So everyone also means it! Recommend, collect, and click on one of them~~~~~~!!!

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