Starting With Real Madrid

Coverciano's history dates back to 1957.

At the time, two highly respected figures in Florence—Luigi Ridolfi, the owner of Fiorentina, and Dante Berretti, the then vice-president of the Italian Football Association had a vision. They wanted to create something unique for Italian football, a place where coaches from diverse countries, backgrounds, and philosophies could gather, exchange ideas, and inspire innovative thinking.

To make this dream a reality, they decided to build Coverciano near Fiorentina's home stadium.

Originally, the site was designed specifically for coaches. However, the national team later selected it as their training base, and gradually, it became the nerve center of Italian football.

Over the decades, Coverciano has attracted countless coaches from Italy and abroad.

Ulivieri explained the long history of Coverciano to Gao Shen as they toured the grounds, including the Football Museum.

Although it's called a museum, it only contains six exhibition rooms. These rooms display championship trophies, match equipment, photographs, and medals dating back to the 1930s, showcasing the glorious history of Italian football.

But, as Ulivieri put it, all of this is just the surface.

The real treasure lies within, the vast lecture hall and the immense library. The lecture hall hosts numerous renowned coaches from around the world every year, who are invited to deliver speeches and share their tactical ideas, insights, and training methodologies.

Only the most exceptional in their fields are invited to speak here.

For Gao Shen, standing in this hall satisfied a bit of his vanity. He was about to deliver his first-ever speech here.

The library, on the other hand, was Coverciano's crown jewel. It is considered the most comprehensive library in the football world, containing virtually every authoritative book related to the sport.

But what truly sets it apart are its irreplaceable treasures.

Every coach graduating from Coverciano must leave behind a thesis. The topic is unrestricted as long as it pertains to football. The paper should reflect the coach's learning experience, their insights, and their vision for football.

From Lippi to Capello, from Ancelotti to Mancini, they all left their theses here.

Gao Shen, while uninterested in some aspects, found this particularly fascinating.

For example, Antonio Conte's thesis spans 40 pages and focuses on the 4-3-1-2 formation. This intrigued Gao Shen, hadn't Conte become famous for his three-defender system later on?

Similarly, Spalletti, the current Roma head coach, wrote his thesis on "The Use of the 3-5-2 Formation in Modern Football."

Gao Shen found this amusing. Spalletti, a proponent of three-defender systems? Really?

Ancelotti's 1997 thesis, titled "The Future of Football: More Dynamic," at first seemed vague to Gao Shen. He wondered if Ancelotti had just cobbled something together.

But as he read through it, Gao Shen had to admit the thesis was ahead of its time. It accurately predicted many of the tactical evolutions in football over the following decades and included detailed charts and analyses of on-field and off-field trends.

Gao Shen was genuinely impressed. Ancelotti truly had a knack for understanding the bigger picture.

Mancini's thesis examined the role and importance of attacking midfielders.

However, Gao Shen couldn't help but question, when Mancini managed Inter Milan, did he even have a creative attacking midfielder? Stankovic hardly counted.

As for Allegri, his thesis explored midfield configurations.

He believed that the midfield organizer must possess strong positional awareness and be able to distribute the ball quickly during defensive transitions. The right-sided player should excel in running and aerial duels, while the left-sided player should be skilled, able to break through opponents, and push forward.

Reading this, Gao Shen immediately thought of Allegri's later Juventus setup: Pirlo as the deep-lying playmaker, Pogba on the left, and Vidal on the right.

It was as if Allegri's thesis had come to life.

But then Gao Shen couldn't help but wonder, why did Milan let Pirlo go?

There was also Sarri, whose thesis focused on meticulous weekly training plans leading up to matches.

…

Gao Shen quickly browsed the museum, but he couldn't pull himself away from the library.

Most of the time, he found himself silently critiquing as he read.

He thought about the possibility of the library being open to the public one day. What would football fans think when they saw these theses written by the game's greatest minds? Would it remind them of university graduates realizing their degrees were irrelevant to their jobs?

All the books and theses in the library are open to students and members of the Coaches Association. They can visit and study these materials anytime.

This, as Ulivieri emphasized, is Coverciano's greatest legacy.

What struck Gao Shen most was the enormous gap between this system and others.

Too often, people focus only on the outcome of a match. But a match is merely the result, it's not the entirety of football.

Behind every game are the efforts of countless individuals: players, coaches, staff, and more.

And behind those individuals lies the foundation of youth training, coach development, and football's industrialization.

Why is Italy hailed as the "kingdom of tactics"? Why are Italian coaches regarded as tactical maestros?

The answer lies in their comprehensive coaching education system.

This is the backbone of footballing success.

A robust youth training system, a world-class coaching development program, and an advanced league structure, these are the foundations of every football powerhouse.

Without them, how can talent emerge?

Take Italy, for instance. Even if their youth training struggles to produce stars now, the framework is still intact. With proper reform, coupled with the best coaches and leagues in the world, it's only a matter of time before talent resurfaces.

Look at Germany, France, and England—they all rose through similar paths.

Without youth training, coaching education, or leagues, can talent magically appear from thin air?

This is the insurmountable gap that exists outside the pitch.

After visiting Coverciano's library, Gao Shen felt a deep sense of frustration.

The disparity between his own country's football system and these football giants was overwhelming. He doubted whether he'd live to see real change in his homeland's football.

But that wasn't something he could change single-handedly.

Even if he became the best coach in the world or won a World Cup with another nation, it wouldn't alter the situation back home.

This realization filled him with a profound sense of helplessness.

At the same time, it ignited a burning desire within him to become stronger and more accomplished.

Someday, he hoped to return home, bringing back advanced tactical knowledge and training methodologies, and contribute to the development of football in his country.

But coaching the national team?

No, thank you.

He thought about Lippi's experience and others who came after.

Gao Shen could only imagine the absurdity of being transported across time and space for criticizing his national team. If he truly became its head coach, the Space Administration would be swamped, chasing him down for constantly mocking the team.

Would that be entertaining? Not really.

…

After visiting Coverciano, Gao Shen, accompanied by Ulivieri, rested briefly before heading to the auditorium.

The hall was already packed.

Gao Shen's first speech wasn't open to the public, and neither the media nor fans had any knowledge of it. Yet, it still caused a stir in Europe's professional coaching circles.

Italian attendees made up the majority, including current Coverciano students, national team players and coaches, and famous figures like Mancini, Allegri, Conte, Pioli, and Sarri. They all came out of respect.

Foreign coaches were also present, such as Klopp and Tuchel from Germany; Hans Flick, assistant coach of the German national team; Blanc from France; Pochettino from Argentina; Erik ten Hag from the Netherlands; and Villas-Boas from Portugal.

Before entering, Gao Shen glanced at the list of attendees in his hand.

Reading the names some of which were unknown now but would become legendary later made his heart race.

Still, his experience since traveling through time had made him calm under pressure.

Even though he was a bit nervous, he also felt a sense of pride.

Years from now, when he wrote his autobiography, this would undoubtedly be one of his highlights.

"By the way, Fernando," Gao Shen said, pulling Lucas aside just before entering.

Lucas looked at him, puzzled.

"Go borrow a camera. I want to take a photo with everyone afterward."

"Huh?" Lucas looked confused.

"You're a famous coach now," Lucas replied. "Most of the people here are unknown."

Seeing Lucas' expression, Gao Shen chuckled. "This is my first speech ever. Meeting them is fate, and I want to commemorate it. Go now."

Lucas still seemed perplexed but obeyed.

Gao Shen, however, was grinning to himself.

Years later, when these people became household names, he'd post the photo on social media with the caption: Spot the future legends!

Now that would be something even Ferguson couldn't top!