Awakening as the God of Football: Maradona Possesses a Chinese Teenager

In the winter of 2020, the moment soccer king Diego Maradona's heart stopped, fourteen-year-old Chinese boy Lin Hao jolted awake with an unbearable headache. The dust of Buenos Aires, the roars of the Azteca Stadium, and soccer memories already etched into muscle memory all forcefully flooded his mind.

The taunts of school team ace Zhao Mingyu, the appraising gaze of PE teacher Wang Jianjun, and his own frail body, utterly unable to keep up with his “soccer king's awareness,” were all obstacles. Then came the showdown in the heavy snow, when a “chip shot of the century” that had traveled across forty years streaked through the Beijing sky.

From the fringes of the school team to the heart of China's youth national team, from skepticism at home to conquering Europe, the ball rolling beneath Lin Hao's feet carries the soccer dream of an entire nation. Yet as his memories keep returning, he discovers to his horror that what he inherited was not just the “Hand of God” and the skill to dribble past five players. Deep in Maradona's soul, he also inherited a defiant, obsessive storm...

As the world's attention focuses on this Eastern miracle, a war between body and soul quietly begins. Lin Hao must do more than lead China to the top of the world. Beneath the shadow of a “god,” he must also reclaim the name that belongs to him.