Chapter 753 - 138: Comeback to the Top! Winning Countless Awards! Golden Ball Award Controversy! War of Words with Blatter! Occupying FIFA!

He had his lunch in Nuremberg with the executives from *Kicker Magazine*.

After receiving *Kicker Magazine*’s German Football Scene Person of the Year award in Nuremberg and completing an interview, he set off north to Berlin. Up until now, he hadn’t even eaten dinner.

"Wang!"

"Wang Shuo!"

As Wang Shuo greeted Dickman and the others, the surrounding fans began to get rowdy. They were all shouting his name, some even using very awkward Chinese. Wang Shuo had already noticed from his car that a large crowd of fans had gathered to welcome him, but he hadn’t expected there to be quite this many. There was even a group of fans wearing Dortmund jerseys over their coats, holding up a massive banner.

"Thank you for making football so beautiful," the banner read, signed by a Dortmund fan club.

Wang Shuo was deeply moved.

"Hey, what are you all doing here?" Wang Shuo smiled and walked over to them. "It’s freezing today, and it’s nighttime. Don’t just stand out here in the cold."

"It’s fine! We’re here on behalf of everyone to see you!"

Wang Shuo recognized a few familiar faces in the crowd and immediately went over to shake their hands. However, the moment he got close, the scene grew a bit chaotic. *Bild*’s security guards hurriedly rushed over to maintain order, separating Wang Shuo from the fans.

"Everyone, please head back. I’m doing great, and I’ll come see you when I have time!" Wang Shuo pressed his hands together in gratitude.

"Keep it up, Wang! You’re the best!"

"This year’s Golden Ball Award belongs to you!"

"We’re so proud of you, Wang!"

Escorted by security, Wang Shuo walked toward the glass doors. Yet, upon hearing the fans’ shouts, he made sure to raise his right fist in acknowledgment. Entering the warm office building, he quickly crossed the lobby and arrived directly at a meticulously decorated award hall. The venue was packed with *Bild* reporters, invited guests, and lucky fans who had won a lottery to attend. The moment Wang Shuo entered, a tidal wave of applause erupted.

As the most influential media outlet in Germany, *Bild* took its annual awards quite seriously. This year, especially, since Wang Shuo had agreed to accept the award in person, *Bild* went all out to show their sincerity. In one breath, he snagged two of the most influential awards: Player of the Year and Forward of the Year.

What surprised Wang Shuo was spotting Klopp and Tuchel.

"Ha, what are you guys doing here?" Wang Shuo walked over with a smile and gave them a hug.

"What do you think? I’m here to get an award too," Klopp laughed, returning the hug before deliberately giving Wang Shuo a hard, vengeful slap on the back.

Tuchel was a little envious of their mentor-student bond and said somewhat sourly, "I’m just here to watch you guys win."

Even Sommer was there. Since Wang Shuo transferred to Arsenal, he really hadn’t seen them. Although it hadn’t even been half a year, he truly missed them.

For him, the final award ceremony felt more like going through the motions because he already knew the results before he arrived. So, when Dickman called out Wang Shuo’s name and the venue erupted in applause, it wasn’t much of a surprise to him. As for his acceptance speech, Wang Shuo had plenty to say. Over the past while, he had repeated similar words many, many times. Indeed, he had recently experienced firsthand what it meant to win so many awards that his hands grew tired!

After receiving the awards, Wang Shuo gave another interview, which was followed by a banquet hosted at a nearby hotel.

Wang Shuo sat with Klopp, Tuchel, Dickman, and a few others as they chatted about recent trending news.

"Your fans from China are just too passionate. They actually crashed FIFA’s official website!" Dickman found it incredibly hard to believe.

Wang Shuo smiled. He actually wanted to tell them that they hadn’t seen anything yet. Mind you, he hadn’t even rallied his fans to vote. If he had, FIFA’s official website would probably have been down for consecutive days.

"Did you go to the Adidas Headquarters yesterday?" Klopp asked out of concern.

Wang Shuo nodded.

"If Adidas is backing you, then it’s even more of a sure thing," Klopp noted.

"How is that possible?" Wang Shuo smiled and shook his head. "When it comes to this sort of thing, Adidas remains neutral—at least for now."

Both Wang Shuo and Messi’s personal sponsors were Adidas, and Ronaldo’s club, Real Madrid, was also primarily sponsored by Adidas. Conversely, Ronaldo’s personal sponsor was Nike, which happened to be the primary sponsor for both Barça and Arsenal. So, how could they possibly play favorites?

"I went to the Adidas Headquarters because I had previously collaborated with their sports laboratory on an extreme challenge experiment. It was shot as a documentary, and since it was received quite well, we were filming a new project this time."

As a sports equipment provider, Adidas was always exploring and testing in this field. For instance, they had long sponsored a training center for Ajax just to collect various data on Ajax players during training for scientific research and experiments. As an Adidas ambassador, Wang Shuo naturally had to cooperate in these endeavors. The only promise Adidas made was that if Wang Shuo won the award, they would release a Golden Ball edition of his signature boots.

"It’s fine, just relax," Klopp said, patting Wang Shuo on the shoulder. "Given your performance over the past year, winning the award is entirely well-deserved. If they don’t give it to you, it’s the authority of the FIFA Golden Ball Award that will suffer."

Wang Shuo smiled and nodded. That was easy to say, but in reality, a lot of things were truly hard to predict.