With the Chinese team once again out of the World Cup, Chinese fans began to treat a referee as the country’s main representative in the tournament, which begins this Thursday (11).
As China failed to qualify to compete in the World Cup in the United States, many Chinese fans adopted referee Ma Ning as their representative in the competition.
The 46-year-old judge inspired viral memes and even won sponsorship from major brands in China, such as computer and electronics manufacturers Hisense and Lenovo.
Known for his tough style, Ma earned the nickname “card master”. In a match in Shanghai in 2015, he showed no less than nine yellow cards and three red cards – a record in his career.
This will be his second participation in a World Cup. Four years ago, he served as fourth referee, advising the main judge.
Posts and discussions related to Ma have gained millions of views on RedNote and other Chinese social networks. While some users support him, others lament the state of sport in the country.
“We have Ma Ning. Who do you have?” wrote a user on RedNote. “Other countries will watch their own teams playing, while we will watch our referee handing out cards,” commented another user.
Ma is already in Miami, in the United States, participating in a ten-day training period for the championship’s refereeing team.
He is accompanied by two other Chinese representatives: Zhou Fei, assistant referee (popularly known as “linesman”), and Fu Ming, video assistant referee (who works in the VAR, which reviews the decisions of the judge on the field). Both Zhou and Fu work in support of the main referees.
Ma has been accredited as a FIFA referee since 2011. He also teaches at the Nanjing Sports Institute in mainland China.
To follow his journey towards the World Cup, Ma created an account on RedNote, a Chinese platform similar to Instagram, two weeks ago. Since then, he has accumulated 197 thousand followers.
In the first publication on the platform, Ma Ning appears taking out a small red book from the front pocket of his referee’s shirt, a reference to RedNote’s Chinese name and also to his reputation for handing out red cards, a punishment that expels players for serious fouls.
In another post, Ma shared a video of her packing her suitcase and training at the gym in preparation for the World Cup. The video, accompanied by dramatic music, shows a Lenovo tablet among other products.
“I take on this mission with confidence and calm. World Cup, here we come”, writes Ma in the caption.
China has failed to qualify for the World Cup since its first participation in the tournament, in 2002, when it was eliminated in the group stage without gaining any points.
In the last two decades, Chinese football has faced financial crises and successive corruption scandals, which led to players, referees and club directors being punished and banned from playing in the sport for an indefinite period of time.
