Amid the enthusiastic celebrations throughout China for Lu Wenbin leading the Chinese national football team to qualify from the Confederations Cup group stage, on June 26, Forbes magazine launched the "2013 Forbes Global 100 Celebrity List", which pushed Lu Wenbin to the pinnacle.
Forbes is an American magazine on par with Fortune, and is famous around the world for its various authoritative rankings.
Under Forbes, there are "Forbes Global Rich List", "Forbes Royal Rich List", "Forbes Chinese Rich List", "Forbes Heads of State List", "Forbes World Brands List", luxury brand list, fund list, city list, university list, etc.
Among them, most of the "Forbes Global 100 Celebrities List" come from film and television actors, directors, variety show hosts, models, athletes, writers, musicians and other industries.
The celebrity list is authoritative and is based on a comprehensive assessment of the global influence, annual income, media coverage, number of fans, and online influence of the people on the list.
However, the specific ranking is subject to the subjective influence of the magazine editors and people in charge.
As a magazine from capitalist America, football is not mainstream in the United States, and Lu Wenbin is still a player from socialist China.
Therefore, in the past few years, although Lu Wenbin has long been famous all over the world and his ranking on the Forbes Global Celebrity 100 list has been rising year by year, he has never been able to directly reach the top.
Last year, in the Forbes Celebrity 100 list, Lu Wenbin ranked third, behind singer Jennifer Lopez and talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
But after leading Real Madrid to an unprecedented six annual crowns in world football at the end of last year, scoring 168 goals, winning three consecutive Ballon d'Or and three consecutive Laureus Awards, and this year leading Real Madrid to six season crowns, Forbes had no choice but to rank Lu Wenbin first.
Whether in terms of global influence, earning ability, or number of fans, Lu Wenbin is leading in all aspects, far ahead of others.
Even in the United States where football is not well developed, Lu Wenbin's name is a household name and a superstar, more famous than Jennifer Lopez and Oprah Winfrey.
The Forbes Global Celebrity 100 list, which has been topped by Americans most of the time, finally had a new person on the 2013 edition released on June 26.
Chinese football player Lu Wenbin ranked first on the "2013 Forbes Global Celebrity 100" list, beating out American celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg and Madonna.
Lu Wenbin became the world's number one celebrity in 2013 officially recognized by Forbes.
Whether Forbes admits it or not, Lu Wenbin is the most famous star in the world. But as a prestigious and authoritative ranking, the Forbes celebrity list can still influence many people.
Lu Wenbin's ranking first means that both the private and official sides have acknowledged this matter, which will have a relatively large impact on Lu Wenbin's advertising endorsement income and the sales of his own 666 brand in the coming year.
For a time, the media rushed to report this event, saying that Lu Wenbin's ranking was well-deserved and worthy of the title, which pushed Lu Wenbin's reputation even higher.
On June 27, the day after the Forbes Celebrity List was released, in Belo Horizonte, the first semi-final of the 2013 Confederations Cup between Brazil and China officially kicked off at the Mineirão Stadium, where the Chinese team had played in the group stage.
The second semi-final between Spain and Italy will be held on the second day.
Before the start of the Brazil VS China match, FIFA arranged a memorial ceremony, where all the players and spectators mourned Cameroonian player Vivian Foe.
Ten years ago today, on June 27, 2003, also in the Confederations Cup, also in the semi-final, Cameroonian player Vivian Foe suffered a sudden heart attack during the match against Colombia and fell to the ground and died suddenly. He was only 28 years old.
Vivian Foe's sudden death caused strong dissatisfaction with FIFA around the world, because the Confederations Cup was held every two years at the time, which seriously overdrawn the players' physical fitness.
It was also because of Vivian Fo's sudden death that FIFA, under pressure from public opinion, reformed the competition system, changing the biennial Confederations Cup to a quadrennial one, and fixing it to be held the year before the World Cup, hosted by the host country of the following year's World Cup.
After paying tribute to the Cameroonian star from 10 years ago, the game officially began.
Apart from Lu Wenbin, Zheng Zhi of the Chinese team could have reached the level of players from the lower-tier teams in the top five leagues.
But now that Zheng Zhi is injured, only Lu Wenbin is left to carry the Chinese team.
The Brazilian team includes old teammates such as Marcelo and Gustavo, as well as stars such as Cesar, Alves, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Paulinho, Oscar, and Neymar.
Just looking at the lineup comparison, no one thinks the Chinese team can pull off an upset.
The probability is too small, no matter how strong Lu Wenbin is, it will be useless.
Sure enough, despite Lu Wenbin guarding the backcourt, Brazil still scored a goal easily.
In the 13th minute, the Brazilian team made an exquisite short pass in the frontcourt. Lu Wenbin, Wang Yongpo, Feng Xiaoting, Zhao Peng and others all watched from the sidelines. The ball was shot into the penalty area by Brazil without even touching it. Finally, Neymar scored with a low shot.
In the 21st minute, Lu Wenbin personally took the ball to counterattack. After passing three people, he made a low shot into the dead corner on the penalty area line, but Cesar fell to the ground in time to save the ball and poked it out of the bottom line.
Although Lu Wenbin's corner kick went into the goal frame, it was caught by Cesar, leaving China with no chance for a follow-up shot.
In the 37th minute, Brazil scored the next goal when Marcelo broke through the wing and shot into the far corner.
After scoring the goal, Marcelo smiled at Lu Wenbin on purpose. Lu Wenbin could only shake his head in helplessness.
Before the end of the first half, Paulinho made a straight pass and striker Fred got offside and had a one-on-one opportunity.
Fortunately, Lu Wenbin chased back in time and made a precise tackle from the side before Fred entered the penalty area. Without even committing a foul, he disrupted the Brazilian team's attack.
In the second half, the Chinese team finally scored a point in the 63rd minute.
This time, the attack was initiated by Lu Wenbin's long pass to Wu Lei. After Wu Lei received Lu Wenbin's long pass at the corner of the penalty area, he had already lost the chance to break into the penalty area and shoot alone.
However, Deng Zhuoxiang rushed up from behind.
Wu Lei passed the ball to the middle, and Deng Zhuoxiang made a high-quality shot from outside the penalty area, which penetrated Cesar's defense.
The Chinese team pulled one point back, but it was of no avail.
In the 75th minute, Neymar scored again for Brazil, extending the score to 3-1.
After that, neither side scored any more goals.
After 3 minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the game. The Chinese team lost 1-3 to the host Brazil team in the semi-finals of the 2013 Confederations Cup and was eliminated in the semi-finals.
There were no surprises, no upsets. Even with Lu Wenbin leading the team, the Chinese team still lost the game due to their overall weakness.