The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills

Chapter 457 - 95: Frenzied Signings! Bundesliga’s Salary Ceiling! The Highest Price in Football! The New Season’s Goal: Break Records

It was founded in 2008, a joint venture between Bart Honnef University and the German Football Association.

Their goal is to develop and introduce more high-tech equipment for football training, with the aim of promoting it to teams worldwide.

The industry in Germany also had high expectations for this cross-disciplinary collaboration.

And their debut product was this very training room, called the "football robot."

The concept for the training room was inspired by a ball machine.

Simply put, the walls of the room are constructed from special panels. Each panel can open, and behind it are two ball-launching machines.

When a player stands in the middle of the room, a random panel lights up and opens, and a machine launches a football.

Almost immediately, another panel lights up and opens, and the player must pass the ball into that new opening within a set time.

According to the experts and professors from Bart Honnef University who introduced it, the machine primarily trains a player’s reaction time—engaging their vision, central nervous system, and motor functions—and is extremely beneficial for their development.

Similar drills are, of course, part of regular training, but they are conducted with a coach’s assistance, not a machine.

The training room’s biggest advantage is that it’s fully automated. It can record data, sync with phones, tablets, and computers, and allows for adjustments to the duration, Passing speed, and more.

Dortmund was the first club invited for a tour.

Next, they will head to Dortmund’s Brackel Training Center to build one of these training rooms for the Bumblebees.

However, it wouldn’t be for the first team’s use, but for the youth academy.

For promotional purposes, Wang Shuo went in and trained for a bit. He handled it with composed ease, making it look effortless.

He felt that this training room wasn’t particularly useful for first-team players.

"Any professional player who’s established themselves on a Bundesliga first team should have no major problem handling this."

Of course, it would still be a challenge if it were set to the highest difficulty level.

But Wang Shuo’s point was that this kind of challenge-focused training wasn’t particularly beneficial for seasoned professional players.

On the other hand, its benefits would be much more pronounced for the youth academy, especially for the training of young prospects.

The first thing that came to Wang Shuo’s mind was, ’Could we bring this to the Huairun Football School? If it were possible, I wouldn’t mind spending a little money to get a brand-new piece of high-tech equipment for my juniors.’

"Its biggest advantage is still the automation."

Klopp also felt that this kind of training equipment was absolutely essential.

"Think about it. To get the same results with our Passing drills, how many coaches would we need?"

"The truth is, we simply don’t have those kinds of resources, do we?"

Wang Shuo nodded in agreement.

The panels can open at various heights, which is something a coach could never replicate.

"The control center is computerized. It records and analyzes test data, then sends it directly to the team’s data hub. It’s just so convenient!"

While being interviewed by reporters, Klopp couldn’t stop singing the praises of the new training system.

He might have even gone a little overboard with the praise.

"This is at least ten years ahead of any other training equipment we’re using right now!"

Wang Shuo, however, was filled with a complex mix of emotions.

Back in his home country, people like Gao Huairen were still hustling just to popularize the sport and promote youth training, yet here in Germany, they were already implementing high-tech training equipment.

And he had to admit, it was genuinely impressive and incredibly convenient.

If this could be deployed on a large scale, it would be a massive boost for the quality of youth development in Germany.

"So, how much does a system like this cost?"

After the interviews were over, Wang Shuo asked Zorc.

Dortmund has already placed an order for one.

Next, they’ll build a custom training room for the Bumblebees, tailored to the conditions at Dortmund’s facility.

"The preliminary estimate is one million euros."

Wang Shuo was a little surprised, but he found the price acceptable.

"They’re still working on R&D. They’re trying to get the machine to launch balls with spin and curve, and the next step is to increase the ball speed to 120 kilometers per hour."

Wang Shuo nodded again and again, full of admiration.

What he was seeing now was only the first generation—the leap from zero to one. What followed would be continuous updates, iterations, and feature refinements.

"It’s truly incredible!"

From university research institutes to labs, and now to real-world application, Germany was truly at the forefront of the global football industry.

"But at this price, exporting it will be tricky. It’s too expensive." Klopp was clearly not optimistic about its prospects.

"Forget exporting, it’ll be a tough sell even within the Bundesliga. How many clubs would be willing to spend a million euros to build one of these training rooms?" Zorc said with a smile.

"Wouldn’t it be better to just use that money to sign a new playmaker?"

Listening from the side, Wang Shuo felt they both had valid points.

A craftsman must first sharpen his tools if he is to do his work well.

But for many football clubs, that adage clearly didn’t apply.