Chapter 53 Qualifying Early
Lazio's ability to qualify one round ahead of schedule is something that many people did not expect before-they didn't even expect that Lazio could qualify for the UEFA Cup.
But now the "poor guy" Lazio, who has no money and no stars, not only qualified for the UEFA Cup, but also passed all the way, breaking into the knockout round of the UEFA Cup one round ahead of schedule.
This is great news.
Lazio fans never dreamed that when their situation was so bad, the team could reach the knockout stage of the UEFA Cup.
They thought that this season would be a league and Coppa Italia, but they didn't expect to see the UEFA Cup at their doorstep.
Although Lazio also participated in the UEFA Cup last season, participating in the UEFA Cup now makes everyone feel deeply.
Just half a year ago, they nearly went bankrupt.
They sold more than two dozen first-team players, leaving only seven, and then they started rebuilding the squad from the ashes.
Up to now, they have broken into the UEFA Cup knockout round one round ahead of schedule, which even the city's rival Rome has never done.
There are now four rounds of the UEFA Cup group stage. Roma has one win, one draw and one loss, with only four points. Opponents in the same group, Strasbourg ranks first with seven points, Basel and Red Star Belgrade both rank second and third with six points, and Tromso follows Roma with three points. In such a complicated situation, it is not easy for Rome to appear.
This makes the Lazio fans even happier.
In the league, they held Roma firmly under them. In European competitions like the UEFA Cup. They also had an advantage over Rome.
Lazio are also happy, especially Lotito.
He didn't expect Lazio to achieve very good results in the UEFA Cup. He felt that this was not realistic.
But the UEFA Cup is a place to make money.
Although compared with the UEFA Champions League, the prize money of the UEFA Cup is simply tasteless, not even a fraction. But for Lotito, who is so stingy that the annual salary of a head coach is only 10,000 euros, no matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat.
The UEFA Cup prize money was originally a windfall, and he never thought that his team would be able to participate in the UEFA Cup at first.
The bonus distribution rules of the UEFA Cup are as follows.
Because the total budget of the entire UEFA Cup is only 45 million euros, the bonuses that can be distributed are very small, pitifully small.
Lazio used to look down on such a small amount of money when they participated in the UEFA Cup, but it is different now. Under the leadership of the stingy chairman Lotito. They value every euro.
Because of the small budget, there is no so-called bonus program for participating in the UEFA Cup. To get money, you have to win, or you can't lose.
The bonus for each win in the group stage is 40,000 euros, and the bonus for a draw is 20,000 euros.
Calculated in this way, even if you win all four group matches, it will only cost you 160,000 euros.
Even if you can break into the quarterfinals, the prize money is only 300,000 yuan, and you can win the championship. It is two and a half million euros.
Really not even a fraction of the Champions League.
What is the distribution of prize money in the Champions League?
As long as you participate in the group stage, you can get 1.7 million euros, even if you don't play a game. No wonder so many teams will desperately want to enter the Champions League is money!
Then the appearance fee for each game is 34 euros, regardless of whether you win or lose, as long as you participate, you will have this much money.
In this way, participating in all six group matches can guarantee at least 3.7 million euros.
After that, they will get another 340,000 euros for each game they win, and 170,000 euros for a tie. If they win all the group matches, they can get close to 6 million euros in income.
What is this concept?
Lazio has to repay the debt of 5.5 million euros a year, and this one group match is enough for them to repay the debt.
If you enter the second stage, the basic bonus of two million euros will be added, and the winning bonus will be doubled.
Entering the quarter-finals will add 2.7 million euros, and entering the semi-finals will add 3.4 million euros. Entering the final is 4.1 million euros, and the champion team will receive another 2.7 million euros, and the winning bonus will be doubled.
This is the gap.
It is no wonder that many teams are unwilling to play in the UEFA Cup. It is not unreasonable for the status of the UEFA Cup to decline year by year.
For Lotito, the UEFA Cup without money is also a good place to make money.
Of course, if the team can really qualify for the Champions League next season as Chang Sheng said. That's where the real money is made.
Lotito now firmly believes that he made the right decision to choose Changsheng. Not from a competitive point of view, but from an economic point of view.
With constant victories, the team's performance is better and more money is earned.
It's a virtuous circle.
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Chang Sheng is not surprised that the team can break through the UEFA Cup group stage. He knows what the team is capable of, and it's no surprise that he made it past the group stage. Since this team can rank second in the domestic league, second only to Juventus. Then why can't they pass the UEFA Cup group stage? You must know that the UEFA Cup group stage is no big deal. Looking at these opponents, they are basically vulnerable.
The real test begins with the top 32, which is the knockout stage.
However, there is still one round of the group stage, and the knockout stage will have to wait until February next year, so winning is not considered now.
What he considers is the league, which is fundamental.
In the fourteenth round of the league, Lazio played against Siena at home.
In this game, the players who played Sofia Levski in the away game in the middle of the week did not play. These people all went to the bench or the stands.
Relying on a group of substitute players at home, Lazio beat Siena 3:1.
Continue the winning streak.
Of course, Juventus defeated Fiorentina 2:1 away and maintained a winning streak after losing to Milan.
In the fifteenth round, Juventus defeated Cagliari 4-0 at home.
Lazio beat Livorno 2:1 away.
Bon Voyage.
But soon, Lazio will face the test.
The sixteenth round of the league. They will welcome Juventus at home!
This is a contest between the two top teams in today's leaderboard.
It's also a battle of focus.
If Lazio can beat Juventus at home, they will replace Juventus and become the top of the league.
On the contrary, if Juventus can beat them, in addition to giving their opponents their first defeat of the season, it will also widen the gap between themselves and Lazio.
For this game, in the last round of the UEFA Cup group stage, Chang Sheng's players at home were all substitute players, and everyone from the players to the coach seemed unwilling to fight.
So in the end Dynamo Bucharest beat Lazio 2:1 away.
This game was Lazio's first defeat in all competitions this season.
But no one's mind is still on this failure.
All eyes are on the weekend's clash between Lazio and Juventus.
"It's really ironic... before the season started, who would have thought that the match between Lazio and Juventus would be the focus of battle? Juventus is the league champion. What is Lazio? They are not bankrupt and relegated to the third division. Thank you! But now they are going to fight for the first place in the league!"
How did the media comment on the confrontation between the two teams.
The war of words between the two sides has begun.
Moggi, the general manager of the Juventus club, once again brought up the old matter again, referring to the Italian tax department's lenient treatment of Lazio in March this year.
"It's such a disgrace to this country that this kind of blatant violation of the spirit of the law is allowed to exist! Honest taxpayers are hurt. If we can default on our debts at will and not pay them back, we can even take advantage of legal loopholes and get light sentences. If so, then who is willing to pay taxes honestly?"
What he was talking about was that the Italian tax department announced that Lazio could pay off their debts in 23 years, and only need to pay less than six million euros a year.
At the beginning, this matter caused a lot of noise in Italian football. Pro-Lazio and anti-Lazio forces are wrestling with each other, and the Northern League hopes to bring Lazio to justice. Lazio must not be lenient.
The local forces in Rome that support Lazio believe that Lotito's approach is in line with the spirit of the law and within the scope permitted by national laws.
In fact, Lotito took advantage of the law's loopholes in this matter and played a hooligan, but in order to survive, within the scope permitted by the law, it is understandable for Lazio to do so.
At that time, Lazio was heavily in debt, and it was almost impossible to support it.
He hopes to pay back 40 million first, and pay back the remaining more than 100 million slowly.
He relied on Italy's "Salvation of Football" law, repealed in July 2004, which allowed clubs to amortize tax arrears. Lazio's tax arrears were accumulated during the effective period of the law, so he did not violate the law by making such a request.
Among their huge debts are 75-80 million euros owed to the state, and Lotito has drawn attention to this money, which he hopes will not be repaid.
For Lotito's "unreasonable request", the Italian tax department will obviously not agree, and the two sides are so deadlocked.
The tax department believes that since the law has been repealed. The Lazio club should pay off all taxes quickly.
The tax department has a trump card: February 28 to March 31 are the deadlines for Lazio to register for the new season with the Italian Professional League and UEFA respectively, which require a tax payment certificate presented by the tax department.
The accommodating Italian professional league is of course easy to talk about, but UEFA will not allow any tax-paying club to register.
But judging from the league results at the time, it was difficult for Lazio to enter the European arena next season. It doesn't matter whether you register with UEFA or not.
This makes the threat of the tax department lose its ability to restrain.
Lotito, who had stiffened his waist, immediately said: "We are the victims of political offensive. Pull up, it is a listed club, I want to protect the interests of all small and medium investors, why should the taxes that have been allowed and accumulated in the past Repay all at once now? I need to negotiate, and I will wait until July 19th!"
Of course, he didn't wait until that late.
Because Lotito made an ultimatum to the Italian Ministry of Finance in March: "If an agreement cannot be reached before March 23, I will bring all the documents to the bankruptcy court to apply for the closure of the club."
This is cheating, lying on the ground and rolling around.
Because if the Lazio club declares bankruptcy, according to Italian law, the tax department will not get a penny.
At that time, Lotito received the support of all Lazio players and fans. The players stood up and shouted for Lotito's demands, and the fans also launched demonstrations to put pressure on the government. They even chanted: "Even if we go bankrupt, we won't give the government a penny!"
For such a rogue club, the tax department is really a headache.
Although they came to strong criticism and resistance from the Northern League, one of the ruling parties, they believed that doing so violated the relevant laws and that the government preferentially treated clubs based in the capital Rome.
But the tax department was worried that Lotito would actually file for bankruptcy and lose a penny.
Finally, after weighing the pros and cons, the tax department made a concession.
The Italian treasury waived the sanctions against Lazio and only collected 2.5% of the interest, which is 33 million euros.
In this way, Lazio's total debt has been reduced to 140 million euros, and it can be paid in 23 years without interest!
The only thing Lazio has to pay is to mortgage the Formello training base and future income and sponsorship fees as collateral.
Lazio narrowly escaped death, what a bargain!
This made the top three in the north very dissatisfied.
Juventus, Milan and Inter Milan have all criticized and ridiculed the government's lenient approach to Lazio.
Now that Moji is bringing up the old story again, does he really hope that the government will take it back?
Obviously impossible. Once the decision is made, it cannot be changed at will. Lazio's debt repayment plan has been determined and it is impossible to change it.
Moggi is very aware of this matter, so he is talking about this matter now, just to add trouble to Lazio.
From adding to the Lazio club, to adding to the Lazio team.
The ultimate goal is to influence Lazio's performance in the weekend game...