Respawn Entertainment: Days of Glory

Chapter 892, "Juventuslandia"

If this had happened outside the Juventus stadium, it would have been perfectly reasonable, since the talks were with Agnelli, and it would have been logical for it to happen at Juventus' home ground. However, its appearance at Roma's home stadium seems somewhat unreasonable.

Just as Bian Lang was thinking this, he saw Agnelli, dressed in casual clothes, walking towards him.

"Wave, do you like this gift?"

Upon hearing that it was Agnelli who had done this, Bian Lang was no longer so puzzled: "Thank you, but can you tell me how you did it?"

"Because we all hate South Koreans. You know they used some underhanded tactics to make us lose face in a previous World Cup. And this time, one of the World Cup sponsors is a South Korean girl group, and they are trying their best to get that girl group to get the rights to sing the World Cup theme song!"

Bian Lang hadn't studied the history of the Water Blue Star World Cup much, but when it came to this matter, he believed it 100%.

The Koreans did something similar before. During the 2002 World Cup, they used their home advantage to engage in large-scale bribery and cheating, and their martial arts team eventually defeated strong teams such as Portugal, Italy, and Spain to reach the World Cup semi-finals for the first time in history.

In the previous 21 World Cups, apart from European and South American teams, only the United States reached the semi-finals in the first World Cup, and South Korea did so this time. This can be called a disgrace to East Asia and a disgrace to the yellow race.

After saying this, Agnelli didn't give Bian Lang a chance to ask questions, and continued to explain: "This news was only released this morning. You know, those politicians think differently from us. So we club owners, who have no connection with that sponsor, discussed it this morning and decided to support you together!"

After all, our domestic fans are unlikely to support that Korean girl group, and we don't have high hopes for the other competitors either, so your music video might be a bit of a hassle! I think you can understand that!

"That would be ideal, of course. If we really have that much support from fans and teams, our success rate will definitely be higher than others. So, what do I need to do for these teams and fans?"

Bian Lang outwardly expressed his happiness, but inwardly he was wondering if the timing of this girl group's entry was a bit too coincidental. Even if they had always intended to compete, why release the news at this particular moment?

Was this a retaliation against his comments about Woodstock, or an opportunistic attack on a domestic incident? What capital is behind this? Is CAA involved?
This news made the situation even more complicated, but fortunately there were people like Agnelli who were willing to help him no matter what.

"There is indeed something I need your help with, but I won't force you..."

This kind of rhetoric sounds like a bad thing, but after saying it, Bian Lang doesn't think it's a bad thing. He just doesn't know if it's suitable for him!

“We are all aware of the potential of the Chinese football market, and we have tried to promote it before. But actually, due to broadcasting rights and other reasons, although Serie A has a large audience in China, it is difficult to make a profit... Our idea is to ask you to be the promotion ambassador for Serie A…”

After thinking for a while, Bian Lang replied seriously, "I think it would be more appropriate to invite a star player to be the promotion ambassador, after all, I'm just a fan. But if Rolling Stone is needed when we do promotions in China, we will definitely cooperate fully."

As for the domestic football environment, Bian Lang doesn't need to mention it. They're there to make money, not to find talent, so there's no need to elaborate. In the original Earth, even Sun Jihai was subject to being poached by others in the youth training system; Bian Lang thinks footballers have it even worse than rock musicians!
Rock music may be poor, but it has the ability. Some football teams are incredibly wealthy, but they simply lack the ability to match their wealth.

Agnelli didn't expect Bianlang to agree anyway. These teams supported Rolling Stones in the competition, partly because they couldn't swallow their pride, and partly because of the Chinese market. They had survey data to support their claim that Serie A viewership in China was profitable.

For high-profile matches like the Milan derby and Inter Milan vs. Juventus, the number of Chinese fans watching through various channels is only about one-tenth of the viewership in Europe. Crucially, this is under the condition that there are no official broadcasting channels in China. If there were official broadcasting channels, this number would only increase, not decrease.

Next year is the World Cup year, and taking advantage of this opportunity, Serie A's entry into the Chinese market seems like a natural progression for the Serie A owners. With Bian Lang acting as a bridge, the process should be much easier than trying to find partners within the Chinese football circle.

After saying that, Bian Lang thought for a moment and added, "If you want to sell broadcasting rights on online platforms, I can help you connect with Bilibili."

Upon hearing the name "Little Bilibili," Agnelli didn't frown at all; instead, her interest was immediately piqued: "Is it that website where we can watch many of your performances? I've followed it; it's a very interesting video website... If it's convenient, could you help us get in touch with them when you have time..."

"No problem, can we go in now?"

"OK! I'll go to the away fans' section with you..."

Andrea Agnelli rarely goes to the stands to watch a game, let alone the away stands at an away game. But this time, he was very happy to come to the away stands behind the goal to accompany Bianlang.

However, before heading to the stands, Agnelli took Bian Lang to meet with the president of the Roma team.

Compared to Agnelli, the Roma player was a bit older. After Agnelli finished his introduction, the Roma president feigned anger and said, "Wave, if I had known beforehand that the Rolling Stones were coming to Rome for a concert to cheer on Juventus today, I would have reported them to the city hall and ruined your concert!"

Bian Lang didn't know how to respond to this, so he could only steer the conversation in another direction: "The winner of your two teams today can enter the Champions League zone, don't you have any animosity at all?"

"Hahaha! Wave, you're quite an interesting person. It's only the first half of the season, and the outcome of this match is unlikely to determine the future. If it were the second half of the season, even if Agnelli begged me, I wouldn't agree to his plan..."

"Thank you for your support..." Bian Lang had just finished his polite greeting when the Roma president continued, "Wave, don't lose to those little Korean bastards! They don't understand football at all, and they'd never represent Italy in the World Cup! Just seeing them makes me sick. I can't believe Nike is supporting them..."

Previously, Bian Lang couldn't understand why the Italian football community hated South Korea so much, yet their sponsor was still going against the tide. Bian Lang hadn't asked earlier because he was afraid of touching on some sensitive cooperation issues and embarrassing Agnelli.

Now that I hear it's Nike, it all makes sense. It also explains what Agnelli meant by those teams that had nothing to do with this sponsor.

Juventus' sponsor is Back to Back, while Roma's jersey sponsor is Clover. Therefore, Bian Lang feels that he has been drawn into a business war and is just a pawn in it. He doesn't know how much of a role he can ultimately play.

After all, he's a rock musician and has absolutely no interest in a story where he's reborn as the world's richest man; he knows his own limitations. But as a pawn, he naturally wants to maximize his own interests.

Now that he understood these things, he could basically conclude that those supporting him might not only be the teams not sponsored by Nike, but also several European sports brands such as Adidas Originals.

As for whether the American brand Nike has any connection with CAA, that's not something Bian Lang can easily figure out.

After chatting with the Roma president for a while, Agnelli took Bian Lang to the locker room to meet with the Juventus players.

Upon seeing Bian Lang enter, Ibrahimovic immediately went up to him and gave him a hug: "Wave, I'm so sorry I couldn't go to the Rolling Stones stadium to support you last night. Davis told me what happened there, and I really wish I had been the one who got injured. But you know, I'm a warrior..." "There will be other opportunities. If you guys play in China, we can work together there!"

After speaking, Bian Lang accepted autographed team flags and footballs from the entire Juventus team. After taking photos with everyone, Bian Lang and Agnelli went to the stands.

The Rolling Stones' advance team had already arrived at their positions, but the two had only been there a short time when the management of the Stadio Olimpico in Rome approached them: "Mr. Agnelli, the president asked me to discuss this with you. We are aware of your fan plans, so if you require, Wave can perform the team anthem live!"

Agnelli didn't even glance at Bian Lang, and directly refused, saying, "Thank you for your chairman's kind offer, but I think it's better to play the recording!"

Bian Lang added, "I'm sorry, I think you've misunderstood something. The song I wrote can be used as a song for the fans, but it's definitely not a team song!"

Bian Lang won't argue about this. No matter how much the fans approve, a team anthem is a team anthem; it's a symbol of a team!

Especially for a club like Juventus, which was founded on November 1, 1897, the team anthem cannot be changed! Because it is not just a song, it carries the club's century-long history and the glory of more than 11 league championships.

As long as the fans like his song "Juventuslandia," that's enough...

Seeing that his words had no effect, the staff member left.

After he left, Agnelli laughed and said, "Is this clumsy little trick an attempt to ruin our relationship?"

Bian Lang shook his head and said, "I don't know! But I know very well that it's impossible for a century-old club like Juventus to change its official anthem. I don't want to be the kind of guy who gets cursed to death by the fans."

“Wave, I feel you really shouldn’t limit your development to China. Europe might be a much bigger world for you!”

Bian Lang nodded first, then shook his head and said, "What you said may be right, but I am Chinese, and China is my greatest support and source of confidence!"

“Indeed…” Agnelli nodded in agreement.

As the match drew closer, fans from both sides began preparing their TIFO displays. Although Juventus's display was much smaller than that of the home team, Roma, the design of the Juventus crest and Rolling Stones logo was a first for fans at a Serie A match!
The Roma fans' humiliation at yesterday's band performance has been somewhat avenged by this incident.

Some confused fans were asking, "What's with that big tongue logo?"

"Juventus got incredibly lucky. The lead singer of the Rolling Stones is Tini, so they got a fan song with the same author as Arsenal!"

I haven't heard Juventus's version yet, so nobody knows what it's like.

However, the highly sought-after "The Angel" has quite a reputation in European football circles. Even the fans of Arsenal's arch-rivals can't help but grumble a bit about Arsenal's good luck!

So when Roma fans, unaware of the situation, heard that it was the same author as Arsenal's, they expressed great disappointment. But sometimes, fan preferences really do have no logic!
When the show started, TIFO was put away, and nothing particularly noteworthy happened.

Moreover, the entire first half was played by both teams in the style of true Italian football! It was ugly, to be fair! Da Fengxian even had some free time in the attacking third looking towards the stands for Bian Lang's shadow.

At halftime, the Juventus fan anthem, as planned, finally began.

The fans who had been leading the way during rehearsals have now started organizing themselves in various areas of the stands, and the fans, surrounded by their support, are moving from the middle row to the farthest row.

Seeing this, some Roma fans on both sides were even holding their pee, eager to see what they were planning to do.
Amidst their curious gazes, Bian Lang accepted the megaphone handed to him by a fan representative, waiting for the drum prelude to begin, which seemed to be played simultaneously by countless small speakers in the arena…

He clapped and cheered with the fans, and together they wrote Juventus' name on the stands.

Then, the instant the intro ended, he picked up a megaphone and led the fans in singing along:
“E' domenica mattina It is Sunday morning now”
The weather is irrelevant.

Su' prepara la bandiera (about preparing the flag)
Ci vediamo tutti la'We'll all go there
Mi telefona un amico A friend called me
Ma che sia completeamente bianconera! Of course, they're all black and white!
Da ogni parte in every part of the autostrada highway

Percorrendo lo stivale Crossing the Boot-Shaped Peninsula
Tutti i metri sono buoni auto Every kilometer is a car
Pulman ed i tram large cars and trams
Un bambino per amico a child

Col braccetto a suo papa' linked arms with her father
Insieme ad altri ancora cantera', sing along with everyone
(chorus)juve juve juventuslandia Juventus, Juventus, Juventuslandia

La citta' che aspetta ladomenica Turin looks forward to Sunday

Juve Juve Juventuslandia

La citta' ti sforza ogni domenica Turin cheers you on every Sunday.
Da torino a catanzaro from Turin to Catanzaro
Dalle alpi al cadachun from Albi to Katajun
Quando arriva la signora When the noblewoman arrives

Ci si impegna un po'di piu' We are more focused
C'e qualcuno che vi agogna How much someone longs
Di segnarle qualche gol you guys, score a few goals!
"Thank you!" you say immediately with a smile.
(chorus)juve juve juventuslandia Juventus, Juventus, Juventuslandia

La citta' che aspetta ladomenica Turin looks forward to Sunday

Juve Juve Juventuslandia

La citta' ti sforza ogni domenica Turin cheers you on every Sunday.
oh oh oh oho oh o…”

(End of this chapter)