WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.259 Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we are looking 00:00:03.259 --> 00:00:05.900 at the sources surrounding Oriental Dragon FC. 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:08.320 Glad to be here for this one. And if you follow 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:10.019 international football, you probably already 00:00:10.019 --> 00:00:12.160 know the headline here. We're talking about a 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:14.960 Portuguese club based in Moita, playing at Campo 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:18.120 Santos Jorge. But it was built entirely as an 00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:20.339 incubator for Chinese footballing talent. Right, 00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:22.699 which is a wild premise on its own. Exactly. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:26.079 But today we're skipping the basic premise. The 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:28.199 mission for this Deep Dive is to dig into the 00:00:28.199 --> 00:00:30.890 actual mechanics of the operation. We want to 00:00:30.890 --> 00:00:33.270 examine how the architects of this project hacked 00:00:33.270 --> 00:00:36.649 the Portuguese football pyramid, the structural 00:00:36.649 --> 00:00:39.369 loopholes they exploited to bypass aid regulations, 00:00:39.469 --> 00:00:42.329 and why the entire experiment ultimately collapsed 00:00:42.329 --> 00:00:44.590 when it hit the professional tiers. It really 00:00:44.590 --> 00:00:46.689 is a phenomenal case study in sports economics. 00:00:47.420 --> 00:00:50.039 And structural engineering, honestly. The sources 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:52.780 note the club was founded in 2014 and the ambition 00:00:52.780 --> 00:00:55.719 wasn't just to field a team. The objective was 00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:58.159 to develop young Chinese athletes within the 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:00.780 rigorous, highly tactical environment of European 00:01:00.780 --> 00:01:03.060 football. With the ultimate goal being to send 00:01:03.060 --> 00:01:06.430 them back. Yes. Send them back to elevate the 00:01:06.430 --> 00:01:08.890 Chinese domestic league and the Chinese national 00:01:08.890 --> 00:01:12.189 team. It was an attempt to artificially manufacture 00:01:12.189 --> 00:01:15.030 a competitive generation of players. OK, let's 00:01:15.030 --> 00:01:17.069 unpack this. Because to engineer a developmental 00:01:17.069 --> 00:01:19.590 hothouse like that, you need a highly specific 00:01:19.590 --> 00:01:22.329 infrastructure. You do. You can't just drop players 00:01:22.329 --> 00:01:24.069 into a foreign country and hope for the best. 00:01:24.269 --> 00:01:26.170 Right. And the mastermind behind this was an 00:01:26.170 --> 00:01:29.170 investor named Qi Chen, who was leading a group 00:01:29.170 --> 00:01:32.700 called WS Sports 7. Our sources indicate Chen 00:01:32.700 --> 00:01:35.280 wasn't new to this. He had been actively working 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:38.260 within the intersection of Chinese and Portuguese 00:01:38.260 --> 00:01:42.280 football since 2006. He was a known entity in 00:01:42.280 --> 00:01:44.780 the Portuguese football landscape. In 2006 and 00:01:44.780 --> 00:01:47.299 2007, Chen successfully arranged the transfers 00:01:47.299 --> 00:01:50.459 of two prominent Chinese players, Yudabao and 00:01:50.459 --> 00:01:53.879 Wang Gang, to SL Benfica. Which is huge. It's 00:01:53.879 --> 00:01:56.819 massive. For context, Benfica operates one of 00:01:56.819 --> 00:01:59.219 the most prestigious demanding football academies 00:01:59.219 --> 00:02:01.159 on the planet. Placing players there requires 00:02:01.159 --> 00:02:04.099 deep institutional trust. But the strategy shifted 00:02:04.099 --> 00:02:07.579 drastically between those 2006 transfers and 00:02:07.579 --> 00:02:10.240 the founding of Oriental Dragon in 2014. They 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:13.259 moved away from acting as a talent agency, placing 00:02:13.259 --> 00:02:15.919 individuals into existing European academies. 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:18.000 Yeah, they stopped renting space and bought the 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:20.680 building, so to speak. Exactly. They opted to 00:02:20.680 --> 00:02:22.719 purchase the infrastructure outright by starting 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:25.199 their own club. What's fascinating here is the 00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:28.199 underlying logic of that shift. When you transfer 00:02:28.199 --> 00:02:31.439 a top prospect to a massive club like Benfica, 00:02:31.539 --> 00:02:34.520 you immediately lose control over their developmental 00:02:34.520 --> 00:02:36.900 trajectory. Because Benfica doesn't care about 00:02:36.900 --> 00:02:39.650 the Chinese national team. Right. Benfica's priority 00:02:39.650 --> 00:02:42.689 is winning matches for Benfica. The player might 00:02:42.689 --> 00:02:45.050 get benched, played out of position or caught 00:02:45.050 --> 00:02:47.949 in a managerial change. By establishing Oriental 00:02:47.949 --> 00:02:50.889 Dragon FC, Chen's group retained absolute control 00:02:50.889 --> 00:02:53.530 over the minutes, the tactical system and the 00:02:53.530 --> 00:02:56.069 physical conditioning of their players. The club's 00:02:56.069 --> 00:02:58.770 primary key performance indicator was development. 00:02:59.069 --> 00:03:01.590 Not just points on a table. That control sounds 00:03:01.590 --> 00:03:04.530 perfect in theory, but the logistical reality 00:03:04.530 --> 00:03:07.210 in 2014 was a completely different story. It 00:03:07.210 --> 00:03:09.870 was a nightmare. Total nightmare. According to 00:03:09.870 --> 00:03:13.310 the sources, the initial roster consisted exclusively 00:03:13.310 --> 00:03:16.669 of Chinese footballers between the ages of 15 00:03:16.669 --> 00:03:18.770 and 19. Right. And that's where you hit the legal 00:03:18.770 --> 00:03:21.509 wall. Under the strict regulations of the Portuguese 00:03:21.509 --> 00:03:25.270 Football Association, players under 18 were legally 00:03:25.270 --> 00:03:28.710 barred from competing in official adult Portuguese 00:03:28.710 --> 00:03:31.870 leagues. So they had imported an entire squad 00:03:31.870 --> 00:03:34.870 to Europe and structurally they were just... 00:03:34.870 --> 00:03:36.740 Blocked out. They were completely locked out 00:03:36.740 --> 00:03:39.719 of the competitive pyramid. And you cannot develop 00:03:39.719 --> 00:03:42.259 elite footballing talent on a diet of informal 00:03:42.259 --> 00:03:44.680 training sessions. You need the pressure of a 00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:46.580 structured league where points are on the line 00:03:46.580 --> 00:03:48.500 and tactical mistakes are actually punished. 00:03:48.780 --> 00:03:50.819 Other ones, why are you even in Europe? Exactly. 00:03:50.840 --> 00:03:53.080 Without that environment, the entire European 00:03:53.080 --> 00:03:55.819 experiment is effectively useless. So to solve 00:03:55.819 --> 00:03:58.900 that, Oriental Dragon FC simply built the parallel 00:03:58.900 --> 00:04:01.699 system. It's so audacious. They bypassed the 00:04:01.699 --> 00:04:04.680 Portuguese FA's age restrictions by creating 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:07.620 and entirely funding their own U21 Youth League. 00:04:07.780 --> 00:04:09.919 Which they branded the Future Stars League. Right. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:12.659 They paid for the infrastructure and invited 00:04:12.659 --> 00:04:15.199 local clubs from the Lisbon and Setúbal football 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:18.759 associations to compete. It is a brilliant, aggressive 00:04:18.759 --> 00:04:21.420 deployment of capital to shape a competitive 00:04:21.420 --> 00:04:23.720 environment. They couldn't enter the existing 00:04:23.720 --> 00:04:26.439 market, so they subsidized a new one. But the 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:29.379 brilliance isn't just in the funding. No, it's 00:04:29.379 --> 00:04:31.600 in how they structured the competition. Here's 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:34.600 where it gets really interesting. Oriental Dragon 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:37.560 didn't just hand over the funding to these local 00:04:37.560 --> 00:04:40.199 Portuguese clubs with no strings attached. They 00:04:40.199 --> 00:04:43.060 attached a strict mandate to the money. And this 00:04:43.060 --> 00:04:45.519 is the genius part. Every single participating 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:47.899 team in the Future Stars League was required 00:04:47.899 --> 00:04:51.379 to field at least one Chinese player. during 00:04:51.379 --> 00:04:54.079 their matches. That is a masterstroke of systemic 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:56.240 integration. Let's look at the mechanics of that 00:04:56.240 --> 00:04:58.420 mandate. First, you guarantee a full competitive 00:04:58.420 --> 00:05:01.220 schedule for your own under 18 squad. Which solves 00:05:01.220 --> 00:05:04.240 the initial problem. Yes. Second, by effectively 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:06.980 bribing the local clubs with funded infrastructure, 00:05:07.300 --> 00:05:09.720 you forcefully integrate your surplus Chinese 00:05:09.720 --> 00:05:12.819 talent into rival Portuguese squads. You aren't 00:05:12.819 --> 00:05:14.819 just creating a league. You're creating an ecosystem. 00:05:15.339 --> 00:05:18.120 You are orchestrating a real -time cultural and 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:21.019 tactical exchange program. It forces the Chinese 00:05:21.019 --> 00:05:23.680 players out of their isolated bubble and demands 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:26.279 they learn the local footballing language, both 00:05:26.279 --> 00:05:29.300 literally and figuratively, by playing alongside 00:05:29.300 --> 00:05:32.279 local Portuguese prospects. And to ensure the 00:05:32.279 --> 00:05:35.459 tactical education met European standards, Chen 00:05:35.459 --> 00:05:38.579 leveraged those old ties with Benfica. The sources 00:05:38.579 --> 00:05:40.959 note they brought in former Benfica B coaches 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:44.529 to run Oriental Dragon. You need that top tier 00:05:44.529 --> 00:05:46.910 tactical mind at the helm. They also strategically 00:05:46.910 --> 00:05:49.389 embedded themselves into the operational fabric 00:05:49.389 --> 00:05:52.449 of an existing Portuguese club, Sidi Pinhalnovans. 00:05:52.610 --> 00:05:54.949 They operated essentially as their second team 00:05:54.949 --> 00:05:57.189 during those early years. Which makes sense. 00:05:57.370 --> 00:05:59.709 It solves the back office knowledge gap perfectly. 00:05:59.910 --> 00:06:02.449 You can hire the best coaches, but running the 00:06:02.449 --> 00:06:04.329 day -to -day operations of a European football 00:06:04.329 --> 00:06:07.889 club, managing facilities, local logistics, medical 00:06:07.889 --> 00:06:10.110 staff that requires institutional knowledge. 00:06:10.370 --> 00:06:12.069 Stuff you can't just buy off a shelf. Right. 00:06:12.509 --> 00:06:14.910 Partnering with Pinhelm Events gave WSports 7 00:06:14.910 --> 00:06:17.230 a functional blueprint of how a Portuguese club 00:06:17.230 --> 00:06:19.829 operates from the inside. So fast forward to 00:06:19.829 --> 00:06:22.949 the 2015 -2016 season. The players had aged up 00:06:22.949 --> 00:06:25.449 and Oriental Dragon FC officially entered the 00:06:25.449 --> 00:06:27.990 bottom of the Portuguese adult league pyramid. 00:06:28.149 --> 00:06:30.769 The fifth tier. Specifically, the Setúbal FA 00:06:30.769 --> 00:06:33.310 second division. They finished their debut season 00:06:33.310 --> 00:06:36.050 in eighth place out of nine teams, fielding a 00:06:36.050 --> 00:06:38.529 roster that included nine Chinese players. Which 00:06:38.529 --> 00:06:41.350 raises an important question. How does a highly 00:06:41.350 --> 00:06:44.050 technical youth squad handle the physical reality 00:06:44.050 --> 00:06:46.410 of regional adult football? I imagine it's rough. 00:06:46.569 --> 00:06:49.529 The fifth tier of any European pyramid is famously 00:06:49.529 --> 00:06:52.870 unforgiving. You are dealing with seasoned physical 00:06:52.870 --> 00:06:56.360 adult players playing on rough pitches. Transitioning 00:06:56.360 --> 00:06:58.939 from a controlled Benfica -style possession game 00:06:58.939 --> 00:07:01.920 in a U21 league to the gritty reality of the 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:04.779 fifth tier is a massive systemic shock. Yeah, 00:07:04.779 --> 00:07:06.879 finishing eighth out of nine indicates exactly 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:08.579 how steep that learning curve was. They were 00:07:08.579 --> 00:07:11.240 taking their lumps. But the sources track a staggeringly 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:14.160 fast adaptation. Just two years later, in the 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:17.360 2017 -2018 season, they finished second in the 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:19.720 division, securing promotion to the fourth -tier 00:07:19.720 --> 00:07:22.560 Setubal FA First Division. That's a rapid turnaround. 00:07:23.129 --> 00:07:26.610 And by the 2018 -2019 season, they proved they 00:07:26.610 --> 00:07:29.029 could handle knockout pressure by reaching the 00:07:29.029 --> 00:07:31.870 finals of the AF Setúbal Cup. The timeline of 00:07:31.870 --> 00:07:33.910 that progression suggests the Benfica methodology 00:07:33.910 --> 00:07:37.089 was really taking root. Once the players adapted 00:07:37.089 --> 00:07:39.730 to the physical demands of the adult game, their 00:07:39.730 --> 00:07:42.790 technical and tactical superiority honed in that 00:07:42.790 --> 00:07:45.769 controlled, funded environment began to dictate 00:07:45.769 --> 00:07:49.019 the matches. And that technical superiority became 00:07:49.019 --> 00:07:52.339 undeniable during the 2019 -2020 season. They 00:07:52.339 --> 00:07:54.519 completely dominated the fourth tier. They were 00:07:54.519 --> 00:07:57.100 running away with it. Before the COVID -19 pandemic 00:07:57.100 --> 00:07:59.459 forced the cancellation of the season, Oriental 00:07:59.459 --> 00:08:01.899 Dragon was sitting in first place. They were 00:08:01.899 --> 00:08:04.699 11 points clear of the second -place club, FC 00:08:04.699 --> 00:08:07.579 Barents. An 11 -point lead is absurd at that 00:08:07.579 --> 00:08:10.019 level. Because of that insurmountable lead, they 00:08:10.019 --> 00:08:12.540 were awarded promotion to the Campeonato de Portugal, 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:15.189 which was the national third tier. The jump from 00:08:15.189 --> 00:08:17.670 regional football in Setúbal to a national division 00:08:17.670 --> 00:08:20.490 is the most difficult hurdle for any rising club. 00:08:20.649 --> 00:08:23.269 Why is that jump so much harder? The travel logistics 00:08:23.269 --> 00:08:26.149 expand across the entire country, for one. But 00:08:26.149 --> 00:08:28.290 more importantly, the wage bills of the opposing 00:08:28.290 --> 00:08:30.509 teams increase significantly, and you are no 00:08:30.509 --> 00:08:33.450 longer playing part -time regional squads. You 00:08:33.450 --> 00:08:36.070 are facing organizations with fully formed professional 00:08:36.070 --> 00:08:39.470 ambitions. And Oriental Dragon proved they belonged 00:08:39.470 --> 00:08:41.929 in that conversation, particularly in the Plaza 00:08:41.929 --> 00:08:44.809 de Portugal, the National Domestic Cup. In the 00:08:44.809 --> 00:08:47.590 2020 -2021 season, they reached the third round 00:08:47.590 --> 00:08:51.230 and drew like signs, a professional second -tier 00:08:51.230 --> 00:08:54.409 side. Think about that. Right. A club founded 00:08:54.409 --> 00:08:57.009 strictly as a youth incubator took a hardened 00:08:57.009 --> 00:08:59.889 second -tier team all the way to penalty kicks. 00:09:00.129 --> 00:09:02.830 To bridge the resource and experience gap between 00:09:02.830 --> 00:09:04.990 the third and second tiers in a knockout format 00:09:04.990 --> 00:09:07.779 requires exceptional tactical discipline. A newly 00:09:07.779 --> 00:09:10.080 promoted squad pushing an established professional 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:12.639 side to penalties is a severe disruption of the 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:14.779 expected footballing hierarchy. Well, they disrupted 00:09:14.779 --> 00:09:17.440 it even further the following year. In the 2021 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:20.820 -2022 Tata de Portugal third round, they drew 00:09:20.820 --> 00:09:23.519 more in rents. A first -tier side. A first -tier 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:27.139 side. We are talking about the elite televised 00:09:27.139 --> 00:09:30.039 tier of Portuguese football. Oriental Dragon 00:09:30.039 --> 00:09:32.360 pushed those first tier professionals to the 00:09:32.360 --> 00:09:34.700 absolute limit. It was an incredible match. They 00:09:34.700 --> 00:09:37.340 ultimately lost 3 -2 but it required extra time 00:09:37.340 --> 00:09:40.000 to settle. That specific match against Moras 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:43.039 serves as the ultimate validation of Qi Chen's 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:46.120 initial thesis. A manufactured roster, heavily 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:48.559 featuring players incubated outside the traditional 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:51.700 European academy pipeline, went toe to toe with 00:09:51.700 --> 00:09:54.860 elite professionals for over 120 minutes. It 00:09:54.860 --> 00:09:56.940 proved the concept worked. It proved that the 00:09:56.940 --> 00:09:59.379 laboratory environment they built could, in fact, 00:09:59.480 --> 00:10:02.039 produce highly competitive results at the senior 00:10:02.039 --> 00:10:05.580 level. That 2021 -2022 season was undoubtedly 00:10:05.580 --> 00:10:08.279 the peak of the project. But it also coincided 00:10:08.279 --> 00:10:10.299 with a structural shift in the Portuguese pyramid 00:10:10.299 --> 00:10:13.379 that would ultimately unravel the club. Restructure. 00:10:13.539 --> 00:10:15.720 Yeah. The Portuguese FA restructured the leagues, 00:10:15.879 --> 00:10:18.000 creating a brand new third -tier competition 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:21.220 called Liga 3. This move effectively pushed the 00:10:21.220 --> 00:10:23.879 old third tier, the Campanada de Portugal, down 00:10:23.879 --> 00:10:26.360 to the fourth tier. Oriental Dragons' performances 00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:28.639 earned them a spot in this newly formed Liga 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:31.350 3. The creation of Liga 3 was designed specifically 00:10:31.350 --> 00:10:33.929 to serve as a bottleneck for talent. How so? 00:10:34.129 --> 00:10:37.629 The FA wanted a more competitive, highly professionalized 00:10:37.629 --> 00:10:39.990 bridge between the amateur leagues and the fully 00:10:39.990 --> 00:10:43.529 professional second tier. By entering Liga 3, 00:10:44.200 --> 00:10:46.840 Oriental Dragon was suddenly trapped in a division 00:10:46.840 --> 00:10:49.679 packed with the most ambitious, well -funded 00:10:49.679 --> 00:10:52.200 semi -pro and professional clubs in the country. 00:10:52.460 --> 00:10:55.639 The margin for error completely evaporated. The 00:10:55.639 --> 00:10:58.500 sources show exactly how ruthless that bottleneck 00:10:58.500 --> 00:11:02.580 was. In their debut Liga 3 season, Oriental Dragon 00:11:02.580 --> 00:11:04.759 finished dead last in their division. It was 00:11:04.759 --> 00:11:07.080 a brutal wake -up call. The lead format then 00:11:07.080 --> 00:11:09.360 pushed them into a sudden -death relegation series 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:12.070 to fight for survival. And they finished dead 00:11:12.070 --> 00:11:14.610 last there as well. They suffered a comprehensive 00:11:14.610 --> 00:11:17.470 systemic defeat and were relegated back to the 00:11:17.470 --> 00:11:19.990 newly demoted fourth tier. This illustrates the 00:11:19.990 --> 00:11:22.850 compounding dangers of rapid promotion. The squad 00:11:22.850 --> 00:11:25.389 and the tactical system that successfully navigates 00:11:25.389 --> 00:11:28.129 the regional tiers is rarely equipped to survive 00:11:28.129 --> 00:11:30.429 a professional bottleneck like Liga 3. It's just 00:11:30.429 --> 00:11:32.659 a different beast entirely. Furthermore, when 00:11:32.659 --> 00:11:35.320 an investor backed club that relies on upward 00:11:35.320 --> 00:11:38.399 momentum suffers a catastrophic relegation, the 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:41.159 structural foundation often cracks. Morale drops, 00:11:41.460 --> 00:11:43.980 key personnel leave, and the financial reality 00:11:43.980 --> 00:11:46.539 of funding a losing team in a lower tier really 00:11:46.539 --> 00:11:49.840 sets in. The momentum completely inverted. The 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:53.080 data outlines a rapid downward slide. The season 00:11:53.080 --> 00:11:56.299 following their relegation, 2022 -2023, they 00:11:56.299 --> 00:11:58.440 managed only a ninth place finish in the fourth 00:11:58.440 --> 00:12:01.379 tier. The slide had started. By the 2023 -2024 00:12:01.379 --> 00:12:03.779 season, they had fallen all the way back to the 00:12:03.779 --> 00:12:06.879 fifth tier AF Satubal One Iggy Vision. The exact 00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:09.139 level where they had started their climb a decade 00:12:09.139 --> 00:12:11.399 earlier. They finished fifth that year. The cycle 00:12:11.399 --> 00:12:13.519 had fully reset. The infrastructure was still 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:15.639 there, but the competitive edge and the developmental 00:12:15.639 --> 00:12:17.720 momentum that characterized their early rise 00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:20.600 had entirely dissipated. Which brings us to the 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:22.820 final data point in the sources. Following that 00:12:22.820 --> 00:12:26.299 2023 -2024 season in the fifth tier, Oriental 00:12:26.299 --> 00:12:29.500 Dragon FC officially ceased operations. The 10 00:12:29.500 --> 00:12:31.759 -year experiment came to a close. A decade of 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:34.120 wild highs and harsh realities. So what does 00:12:34.120 --> 00:12:36.519 this all mean? When you review the documentation, 00:12:36.919 --> 00:12:39.720 it is a staggering account of how an external 00:12:39.720 --> 00:12:42.919 entity utilized capital, tactical alliances, 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:46.399 and sheer logistical willpower to force a new 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:48.759 developmental model into a traditional European 00:12:48.759 --> 00:12:51.740 sporting structure. If we connect this to the 00:12:51.740 --> 00:12:54.419 bigger picture, the legacy of Oriental Dragon 00:12:54.419 --> 00:12:57.419 FC is secure as a vital case study in globalized 00:12:57.419 --> 00:13:00.740 sports development. They expose structural loopholes 00:13:00.740 --> 00:13:03.559 in domestic FAA regulations and prove that parallel 00:13:03.559 --> 00:13:05.679 developmental leagues can successfully integrate 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:08.980 foreign talent into a local ecosystem. Even if 00:13:08.980 --> 00:13:11.070 it didn't last forever. Right. The fact that 00:13:11.070 --> 00:13:13.070 the club eventually dissolved under the pressure 00:13:13.070 --> 00:13:15.409 of the professional tiers doesn't negate the 00:13:15.409 --> 00:13:18.330 success of the methodology. International federations 00:13:18.330 --> 00:13:20.769 and sports economists will likely analyze the 00:13:20.769 --> 00:13:23.970 WS Sports 7 model for years to understand both 00:13:23.970 --> 00:13:26.769 its rapid success and its ultimate unsustainability. 00:13:27.149 --> 00:13:29.409 It is a blueprint of how to hack the system, 00:13:29.529 --> 00:13:31.370 complete with the warning labels of what happens 00:13:31.370 --> 00:13:33.409 when you reach the top. But before we close out 00:13:33.409 --> 00:13:35.610 this deep dive, there is one final detail in 00:13:35.610 --> 00:13:37.330 the sources that warrants your attention. And 00:13:37.330 --> 00:13:39.649 it's a fascinating loose end. Even though operations 00:13:39.649 --> 00:13:42.929 ceased in 2024, there is ongoing speculation 00:13:42.929 --> 00:13:47.129 that Oriental Dragon FC might be renewed and 00:13:47.129 --> 00:13:49.470 re -entered into the lower leagues. However, 00:13:49.710 --> 00:13:52.289 the sources explicitly note that this potential 00:13:52.289 --> 00:13:54.990 return is entirely contingent on the construction 00:13:54.990 --> 00:13:57.570 of a hypothetical new club facility. A massive 00:13:57.570 --> 00:14:01.190 if. Exactly. Because to date, absolutely no construction 00:14:01.190 --> 00:14:04.009 has begun. No ground has been broken. So, as 00:14:04.009 --> 00:14:06.169 you process the mechanics of this 10 -year experiment, 00:14:06.289 --> 00:14:08.259 I want you to consider Is this lingering rumor 00:14:08.259 --> 00:14:10.179 simply the wishful thinking of those who want 00:14:10.179 --> 00:14:12.860 to see the incubator reopened? Or are the architects 00:14:12.860 --> 00:14:14.840 quietly securing the capital to launch version 00:14:14.840 --> 00:14:17.179 2 .0 of the Dragons? It's definitely something 00:14:17.179 --> 00:14:19.299 to keep an eye on. Thank you for joining us for 00:14:19.299 --> 00:14:19.940 this deep dive.