Although Sylvia looked a little disappointed when she heard that the name Blatter read out was not Qin Xiong, Qin Xiong himself was very open-minded. He hugged Zidane and congratulated him on winning the award. Then he and Cannavaro stepped onto the podium together with Zidane.
Davis, the former Dutch national footballer, had already read out FIFA's evaluation of the three candidates. At this time, there was applause in the hall. Blatter personally handed the FIFA World Player of the Year Gold Award to Zidane.
German football's Kaiser Beckenbauer handed the silver award to Qin Xiong, and Cannavaro took the bronze award from Matthäus.
After the three people stood on the stage for a group photo, Zidane gave his acceptance speech. The winners of the silver and bronze awards did not need to say anything. Even if they did, it would be for an interview later.
After the award ceremony, everyone went to the banquet together.
Qin Xiong was interviewed by the reporters outside the auditorium.
The final score was out. Zidane was only 32 points higher than Qin Xiong, and Qin Xiong was only 15 points higher than Cannavaro. The gap between the top three was not big. Even the difference between Cannavaro and the fourth-placed Ronaldinho was only 21 points.
"Do you regret not winning the FIFA World Player of the Year award? After all, the gap between you and Zidane is very small. "
Qin Xiong held the silver award and shook his head with a smile. "No, I don't have any regrets. I'm happy for him. In fact, to be able to get the silver award is already a very good result for me."
It could be said that the FIFA World Player of the Year award was more about fame than outstanding performance. Qin Xiong did not expect his fame to soar so quickly in the past year that he could approach Zidane. Of course, in addition to the World Cup, his performance in the past year was rated higher than Zidane's, whether it was the Premier League or the Champions League.
But Zidane always had a huge foundation of popularity!
This foundation was very strong.
In other words, if Qin Xiong's performance declined in the next two years, he might soon become invisible. But superstars like Zidane, Henry, and Ronaldo would not. Even if they were silent for a while, as long as their performance improved slightly, they would quickly occupy the headlines of the major football media.
Qin Xiong was young after all. He still needed time to accumulate such a huge amount of popularity.
After attending the banquet at the Zurich Opera House, Qin Xiong and Sylvia spent the night in a hotel. the next day, they set off back to Madrid to start preparing for the last game of 2006.
Ronaldo, who had been in a good mood recently, he was often very active on the training ground, joking with his teammates, and the open style training always made the spectators in the stands happy.
It was as if the omnipotent alien had returned and was enjoying football.
It was December 20th, and the Real Madrid League's first half campaign would be held the night after tomorrow. Qin Xiong came to Capello's office after training in the afternoon. He handed a leave of absence to Capello.
Capello carefully read the contents of Qin Xiong's leave of absence, then looked up at Qin Xiong in confusion and asked, "You want to take leave for personal matters? One day? "
Qin Xiong nodded and said, "Yes, I have personal matters to attend to tomorrow. I want to take leave."
"Will it affect the game the day after tomorrow?"
"It won't, I promise!"
Capello had not communicated much with Qin Xiong in the past few months. There was always a feeling that they did not see eye to eye, so he did not ask in depth. He believed in Qin Xiong's professionalism. After all, he was a model star player in training. He should not take leave to attend a business event.
Moreover, Qin Xiong promised that it would not affect the game. Capello did not want to make things unpleasant in the middle of the league tournament, so he approved Qin Xiong's leave of absence.
Another point was that he considered that the opponent in the game the day after tomorrow was not strong, and it was Real Madrid's home ground!
On the morning of December 21st, Qin Xiong woke up from his sleep. He subconsciously touched his side, but he did not feel Sylvia, so he opened his eyes and found himself alone in the bedroom. He went downstairs and saw Sylvia humming a song in a good mood as she prepared breakfast in the kitchen.
Qin Xiong went up and hugged her from behind. Sylvia smiled and turned her head to kiss him, saying, "It's still early. You sleep a little longer. I'll wake you up later. I won't let you delay your training."
Qin Xiong shook his head and said softly against her cheek, "I'll accompany you today. I'll accompany you all day. Let's go for a stroll around Madrid. I've been here for so long, but I haven't really relaxed and strolled around."
Sylvia realized why Qin Xiong did this, and her heart was full of sweetness.
Today was her birthday.
She did not need Qin Xiong to prepare any gifts for her, and Qin Xiong also understood her, so he did not prepare any gifts today. He just planned to spend the whole day with her, relax and spend the day like an ordinary couple.
Since he settled down in Madrid, his pace of life had been fast and fulfilling. Training, home, competition, three points in a line, often traveling back and forth across cities, regions, and even hemispheres. He had not really accompanied Sylvia properly. Even if he stayed at home all day to rest, it was still her accompanying, not him accompanying her.
After learning that Qin Xiong had asked for leave, Sylvia immediately went upstairs to shower and dress with Qin Xiong. After breakfast at home, the two of them left in casual clothes and sunglasses.
The young couple was inseparable from each other as they played in the lively and bustling areas of Madrid. They often took out their cameras to take photos as souvenirs, went shopping, and tasted delicious food. They had a very happy day all day.
But Qin Xiong did not know that he was being followed and photographed by the paparazzi in Madrid the whole time.
When they returned home in the evening, Qin Xiong, who still wanted to continue, asked Sylvia to put down the things she bought, and the two of them went out again.
Qin Xiong felt that the night needed a little passion and atmosphere to end.
So he took Sylvia to a nightclub, which might be the most active nightlife he could think of.
When he walked into a famous nightclub in Madrid holding Sylvia's hand, he was quickly recognized by the people in the nightclub, and many people cheered at the scene.
This was probably the first time Qin Xiong had appeared in a nightclub after coming to Madrid, and with his current fame, almost everyone here knew him.
Qin Xiong and Sylvia sat in the booth at first. He did not order anything, and the table was full of all kinds of drinks. The waiter said that they were all invited by other guests, which made him and Sylvia not know whether to laugh or cry.
He just took Sylvia to feel the atmosphere. If the feeling was right, they should dance together.
Just as he and Sylvia were hugging and swaying gently to the rhythm of the music on the edge of the booth, a group of people suddenly came down from the second floor and walked towards Qin Xiong.
"Hey, Qin Xiong! I didn't expect to see you here! "
Qin Xiong turned his head and looked in the direction of the voice. He was surprised to see his teammate Ronaldo surrounded by many beautiful women!
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