In recent years, many people have said that Leeds United and Bayern are the best commercial clubs in European football.
The two teams did very similar things in many places.
For example, both teams strictly control the team's salary and benefits, and would rather let core players transfer and leave the team than renew their contracts with high salaries.
There is also the business model of the two teams.
It is difficult to trace who learned who first, but Leeds United and Bayern were the first to adopt the branch office model, a business development model that directly contacts fans and customers. Even other European giants teams are now
, they all still adopt the agency contracting system. The latter saves worry and trouble to a certain extent, but it relies on others.
Interestingly, Leeds United has established branches in North America, Asia, China, the Middle East and other regions, and Bayern is almost the same.
But there are some places that are different.
For example, when the Bundesliga hegemony saw that Leeds United had made huge gains in jersey sales, they looked back at their sponsors and thought, uh... no, that's not a sponsor, that's their sponsor dad.
Bayern could only shed tears of regret over this.
There are also some very interesting similarities, that is, the two teams rarely report news of internal strife, giving people an impression of unity, which is also very rare in European football.
In terms of fan merchandise sales, it is also very unique.
Among the sponsors of Leeds United, if you scroll down, you can see many small sponsors of different categories. They cooperate with Leeds United, put the Leeds United label on the products they sell, and even customize products specifically for Leeds United.
, put it on Leeds United’s official store and APP platform for sale.
After several years of accumulation, a complete set of complete industrial models has been formed.
From snacks, drinks, alcohol, to a series of daily necessities, such as shower gel, shampoo, toilet paper, and some children's toys, as well as products such as trolley cases, table lamps and small household appliances and furniture, you can find them all at Leeds United's
Seen on the official store.
Without exception, these products are all labeled with the Leeds United label. They are all carefully selected by the club's retail department, ensuring quality and quantity, and the prices are also very competitive.
The whole model is somewhat similar to Costco's model, the only difference is that it is for Leeds United fan members.
This is also a commercial project that Fernando Lucas is focusing on promoting. The starting point is what Gao Shen said before, to build Leeds United into a platform.
Nowadays, Leeds United’s model has been enthusiastically welcomed by fans all over the world. Whether you place an order at the fan store at Amazon Stadium, purchase on the APP, or purchase on Amazon.com and domestic shopping websites, you can enjoy Leeds.
Connected services and accumulate membership points.
This membership point allows him to enjoy many special benefits and advantages in the club, such as tickets to some special games, or some limited fan souvenirs, etc.
More than a year after its launch, this model has become very popular and has become a very strong growth point.
This naturally attracted the attention of other wealthy teams.
But Leeds United’s model is something that many teams simply cannot imitate.
For example, Real Madrid has established branches all over the world, but the business of the branches is completely different from that of Leeds United and Bayern, and their authority is also different. This makes it difficult for Real Madrid to learn from Leeds United's model.
Bayern has such conditions.
So this time, taking advantage of the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals to be held at Leeds United's Amazon Stadium, Bayern was led by chairman Rummenigge, including board members such as Kahn, who is about to take over the chairmanship of Bayern, and a group of people.
They made a grand trip to Leeds United, saying they wanted to examine Leeds United's business model.
Gao Shen and Leeds United did not hide it. They hosted a banquet for Rummenigge and his party, and at the same time accompanied them to visit the Amazon Stadium and inspect the Leeds United fan shop.
Today, the area around the Amazon Stadium is the busiest consumer and entertainment venue in Leeds and even Yorkshire, even on non-match days. On match days, it is even more crowded.
Many fans brought their families with them and came here early before the game time to enjoy this rare vacation.
Everyone at Bayern, including Rummenigge, was very surprised by this.
The Allianz Arena is one of the best-run stadiums in European football, but it pales in comparison to Leeds United's Amazon Stadium. It's no wonder that Leeds United's home matchday revenue is rising.
Not only because there is Westfield Shopping Center nearby, but also because Leeds United operates the entire stadium, as well as the various facilities and services specially designed to cater to fans, with the purpose of attracting as many people as possible.
Many fans came to the scene.
Some even come here directly to spend a whole day.
After inspecting the Leeds United stadium, Rummenigge and his team were very surprised and felt the shortcomings.
In terms of ticket revenue, Bayern itself is relatively weak. Although Leeds United is not high, its overall ticket revenue is still higher than Bayern.
More importantly, Leeds United now has various software and hardware facilities that Bayern does not have.
So much so that after the visit, Rummenigge let out a long sigh.
"On a commercial level, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to catch up with Leeds United!"
The implication is actually that we must kill Leeds United on the pitch.
…
Strictly speaking, the technical and tactical styles of Bayern and Leeds United are somewhat similar. They are both offensive teams that advocate fast-paced offense and defense and pursue the coexistence of speed and technology.
This type of team has a very strong impact and is in line with the current football trends.
The styles are similar, but the details are different.
Leeds United insists on using a 433 formation, while Bayern adopts a 4231 tactic.
Flick's team is a bit retro, returning to the tactical play of the Heynckes era, but if you investigate carefully, it is not difficult to find that this is actually a forced compromise.
Germany's native central defender Süle is a very powerful player. He is 1.95cm tall but weighs 200 kilograms. He looks like a heavy armored vehicle.
Süle, who has a super strong body, does have an advantage in defense, but everything is one thing and two sides. Süle's biggest problem is that he turns too slowly.
This is very problematic.
Therefore, Bayern chose another more flexible central defender to partner with Süle, and this was Alaba.
Lucas Hernandez joined Bayern at a sky-high price. This French central defender is a attacking central defender. His defensive actions are reckless and his ability to play the ball is not very strong. This makes it difficult for Bayern to trust him to play alone.
This is also the reason why Alaba’s contract renewal is now in trouble.
The players know their importance to Bayern and want to ask for higher salary, but Bayern is not willing to satisfy Alaba.
This kind of thing is normal, something you and I want to do.
It can be said that when Bayern chose Süle, the central defender had a very obvious disadvantage in terms of range of activities, which required Bayern's midfielder to provide more support.
In this case, neither Goretzka nor Kimmich can meet the requirements alone.
Therefore, Bayern chose a double midfielder.
Double midfielders can indeed ensure the stability of the defense, but then there is another problem, the midfield.
Both Kimmich and Goretzka have to protect the defense, and neither of them is the kind of player who can dribble the ball forward. The two of them partnering with double midfielders will inevitably lead to certain problems in Bayern's midfield advancement.
Everyone knows that Thomas Muller does not have such ability.
As a result, Bayern doesn't have many options.
Either go wide and rely on Kingsley Coman and Sane to attack from the wings, or follow Lewandowski's center forward route.
Both tactics have obvious weaknesses and shortcomings.
Especially when facing Leeds United.
In fact, in Gao Shen's previous life, Bayern played very threatening offensively when facing Barcelona.
But Leeds United are not Barcelona.
Leeds United's forward line has players like Haaland, Rashford and Sancho who can break through Bayern's defense at extremely fast speeds and have excellent speed and skills. This makes Bayern very vigilant.
To a certain extent, Bayern has no confidence that it can hold the goal.
Therefore, Frick took another approach and chose to rush forward.
From the very beginning, Bayern showed a very aggressive attack, directly overpowering Leeds United.
Lewandowski, Thomas Muller, Kingsley Coman and Sane, these players even directly rushed to Leeds United's goal, forcing Leeds United to find it difficult to play the ball in the backcourt.
It was almost cut off every time.
Four attackers, plus two defensive midfielders, and six defensive players in the frontcourt form two pressing lines of defense.
Flick's strategy was very clear. If I couldn't defend, there would be some problems with advancing the ball, so I simply didn't advance and just grabbed it in the frontcourt, and then counterattacked after grabbing it.
As long as I can steal the ball and make more counterattacks, I will definitely be able to score goals.
Especially with the efficiency of players such as Lewandowski and Thomas Muller, Bayern is very confident to do this.
I have to say that Bayern's style of play is really very targeted, and the Bayern players have very strong tactical execution and excellent running ability. Even veteran Lewandowski can run.
This forced Leeds United's frontcourt players to actively retreat to support the ball in the backcourt.
When they were most embarrassed, Sancho and Rashford even retreated to the outside of the penalty area.
It is conceivable how fierce Bayern Munich's pressing and pressing is.
And this game has formed a back-and-forth battle from the very beginning. The fight is very exciting and the rhythm is very fast.
Both sides could create some dangers from time to time, but failed to score goals. The situation was very tense.
In this tense and ups and downs situation, the fans were so distracted that they did not notice the passage of time at all, and may even have forgotten how long the game lasted.
The two sides almost surrounded the area from the front edge of Leeds United's penalty area to near the midline, constantly adding troops to it and constantly increasing their investment in the game. Up to this point in the game, neither side had a choice.
Bayern must score goals, so they need to constantly invest in manpower.
Leeds United must hold on and must continue to invest in manpower.
The only difference is that Leeds United's frontcourt will get more space to counterattack.
This is the biggest test for both sides.
There are no bells and whistles, it is definitely the most valuable strength competition.
