China Football Daily front-page headline—Lippi's contract as China national football team head coach would end on July 4. With an annual salary of €22 million, Chinese Football Association executives held a negative attitude toward renewing it.
Only three months remained until the crucial AFC Asian Cup qualifiers matches—the start of the final twelve. News about the national team currently dominated football trending searches.
Naturally, the China national football team drew the most attention within China.
With an annual salary of €22 million, China national football team head coach Lippi firmly ranked first in the world.
Considering the technical assistance to China and Lippi's astonishing résumé, an annual salary of €22 million was actually acceptable.
After all, if the China national football team could make it into the World Cup again and achieve strong results like they had at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the economic benefits generated would definitely be far more than a mere €20 million.
But Mr. Marcelo's age had to be considered. If this had been the Lippi of 2000 to 2010, then an annual salary of €20 million would have been fairly worthwhile.
Lippi was already seventy-three this year. Honestly, if the China national football team had not offered such a high salary, he might have ended his coaching career long ago.
Football coaches needed quick minds, especially when dealing with sudden situations on the pitch. Your brain had to work fast!
No matter how brilliant a head coach was, once they reached seventy, their abilities would inevitably decline.
Was the current Lippi still worth €20 million?
The Chinese Football Association had money, but that did not mean its leaders were idiots.
Furthermore, after reaching the knockout stage at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, there were actually more head coaches around the world willing to coach