I Am Scouted by Real Madrid

Chapter 879: Chapter 1: Provincial Super League

June 2, 2025

Spain, Madrid

Real Madrid Club announced a major news; team captain Chen Zhong will retire in the 2026-2027 season, with the next season being his last with the team.

Chen Zhong, born in 1991, at 34 years old, still maintains a good competitive state. He once won the Ballon d’Or five times consecutively and honored with the Ballon d’Or nine times in his career, making him a legendary figure in football. Now he is only a World Cup champion away from being the unchallenged ”King of Football”.

In 2014, Chen Zhong reconciled domestically and, for the first time, was selected for the national team, leading the team to breakthroughs at the Asian Cup and East Asian Cup. Although he didn’t lead the team to the World Cup stage the same year, it gave the domestic crowd hope.

In October 2015, Chen Zhong led domestic competition reforms, stating at the conference: ”China is vast and abundant, we should establish a league suitable for our national conditions.”

Following this, Chen Zhong proposed the concept of Provincial Super League and China Championship.

Domestically, the Super League and Division One are established at the provincial level, and the top two teams in the Super League can participate in the China Championship, which allows the winner to compete in the Asian Champions League.

In 2018, with the emergence of a batch of young talents domestically, China’s team strength was enhanced as Chen Zhong led China into the World Cup for the second time. Unfortunately, due to injuries, Chen Zhong did not lead the national team far, but they did break the team’s record of zero goals on the World Cup stage.

By 2020, the Provincial Super + China Championship model succeeded, the number of registered players saw widespread increase domestically, along with the emergence of a batch of players engaged in the top five leagues.

In 2021, Chinese players abroad exceeded a thousand, with over 30 players playing in the top five leagues.

In 2022, Chen Zhong led China into the World Cup stage for the third time, and this time, in what was called the ”Twilight of the Gods” World Cup, Chen Zhong led China to breakthroughs, reaching the Round of 16.

In 2023 and 2024, Chen Zhong’s performance at Real Madrid began to decline as injuries started affecting his career, and his national team commitments also impacted his club performance to a certain extent.

The club wished Chen Zhong would focus on the league, but he refused, causing relations to hit a freezing point until Florentino intervened to retain him. Real Madrid also began a new round of updates, and their second Champions League treble became the last glory of Chen Zhong’s era.

In the 2024-2025 season, Chen Zhong’s performance showed a decline, and he expressed thoughts of retirement, while his former teammates Kaka, Marcelo, Pepe, Pirlo, and Cristiano Ronaldo have either retired or ventured to other remote leagues for fortune.

Yet, Real Madrid Club’s management hoped Chen Zhong would stay. Chen Zhong said, ”I hope I can leave my peak here at Real Madrid.” However, the club still rejected this proposal, ultimately leading Chen Zhong to agree to the contract renewal, dispelling thoughts of maintaining his form at the China Championship.

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Spain, Madrid

After the Champions League final ended, with Paris Saint-Germain defeating Inter Milan 5:0 and achieving their first Champions League title, Dembele reached the peak probability of winning the Ballon d’Or in the locker room, Mbappe’s face showed some loss.

This player once let Real Madrid down, joining Real Madrid for the dream of winning a championship, now completed a narrative by others.

Before you came, we were already champions.

After you left, we became champions.

In the underground parking lot, Chen Zhong conversed with Ancelotti there, Ancelotti would head to Brazil to become the head coach of the Brazil national team, their relationship was good, yet the club was not as friendly to Ancelotti.

”Sometimes I envy you, Chen.” Ancelotti looked at Chen Zhong and said, ”At least they treat you much more gently.”

”You’ve already tried your best this season.” Chen Zhong looked at Ancelotti with some regret, possibly due to Real Madrid’s impending reorganization, causing them to have their plans for the players.

And the club’s next teammate was Chen Zhong’s former teammate Alonso, the old mate who created miracles in the Bundesliga publicly expressed in the media before arriving at Real Madrid that he was looking forward to collaborating with Chen Zhong.

Ancelotti said nothing, he just looked at Chen Zhong with some regret, when the old lion ages, young lions always try to challenge the lion’s leadership.

This season, Chen Zhong played quite hard, the club team still relied on the old, while in the national team, Chen Zhong had become a spiritual icon.

The rival that competed with Chen Zhong, Messi, already fulfilled his dream in the previous World Cup.

He won the World Cup and even after leaving the mainstream stage, still managed to claim a Ballon d’Or from Chen Zhong.

Ancelotti hoped Chen Zhong could end with dignity, unlike Cristiano Ronaldo who ultimately faced Juventus, Manchester United, and Victory in Riyadh due to an irrational choice.

In the era of golden wealth, the story of one person and one city has become difficult to reenact, attracting fans is no longer as before, but Chen Zhong is different, he is a product of Real Madrid’s youth training. Although he once briefly rented to Milan for half a season, for the rest of his career, he served Real Madrid.