{"id":4475,"date":"2026-06-20T11:34:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T11:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4475"},"modified":"2026-06-20T11:34:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T11:34:38","slug":"shut-out-of-the-world-cup-again-china-roots-for-a-referee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4475","title":{"rendered":"Shut out of the World Cup again, China roots for a referee"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Ma Ning, 46, is the most prominent Chinese participant in this year\u2019s World Cup. (Jan Kruger – FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

China\u2019s national team failed to make the World Cup this year, again. But the country\u2019s soccer fans have found someone else to cheer for on the field: a referee.<\/p>

Read more Michigan\u2019s 7-foot-3 Aday Mara headlines the list of top big men in the NBA draft<\/a><\/p>\n

With no players on the pitch, Ma Ning, 46, is the most prominent Chinese participant in this year\u2019s tournament \u2014 and he\u2019s parlayed his officiating experience, strict on-field demeanor and social media savvy into unlikely stardom back home, where he\u2019s landed media interviews and major sponsorships.<\/p>\n

Ma is the first Chinese official selected for two World Cups. After making his debut in Qatar four years ago as an assistant referee, he\u2018s now taken the whistle as a match referee. His first assignment comes Saturday, when Ecuador and Cura\u00e7ao meet in Kansas City, Missouri. (He is joined on soccer\u2019s greatest stage this year by countrymen Zhou Fei, an assistant referee, and Fu Ming, a video assistant referee.)<\/p>\n

A basic maxim of sports officiating is that if you\u2019re doing it right, no one notices you. The fans come to see the players; referees typically strive for anonymity.<\/p>\n

Ma has taken a different approach.<\/p>\n

Before departing for the United States last month, the whistle-blower launched an account on RedNote, the social media platform broadcasting the tournament in China. Posting his training record and behind-the-scenes videos, he has gained more than 310,000 followers and counting.<\/p>\n

Before now, Ma\u2019s reputation has been complicated. As a referee in the Chinese Super League, he\u2019s known as Card Master \u2014 a nickname earned during a 2015 Shanghai derby match, when he issued nine yellow cards and three red cards. The match ended with 11 players on one side, eight on the other, a 5-0 result and fans divided about Ma\u2019s role.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s said that when Ma goes on trips, he brings two suitcases of cards,\u201d one RedNote user commented. \u201cOne full of yellow cards and one full of red cards.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Ma Ning was a card dealer in this 2024 match in Saudi Arabia. (Yasser Bakhsh\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Some accuse Ma of seeking attention. He says he is misunderstood. \u201cI behave differently on the pitch,\u201d he told the state-run wire service Xinhua. \u201cPeople only like or notice a stronger side of my personality.\u201d His friendliness with players, he says is often overlooked.<\/p>

Read more Mamdani won New York opposing Israel. Now, his movement wants power in Congress.<\/a><\/p>\n

But now, with no Chinese team in the tournament to suffer his wrath, the country\u2019s fans have united behind him, more or less: \u201cAlthough we don\u2019t have a team that makes others tremble,\u201d another user quipped, \u201cwe do have a referee who does.\u201d Memes depicting Ma brandishing red cards have gone viral.<\/p>\n

His unusual prominence has helped him secure sponsorships from, among others, the electronics giants Lenovo and Hisense and the dairy company Mengniu.<\/p>\n

Not long ago, China was seen as a potential rising power in soccer. The Dragon Team won the East Asian Football Championship in 2005 and 2010 and managed victories over perennial powers Argentina in 1984 and France in 2010.<\/p>\n

But the Chinese Football Association, the national federation, has been bedeviled by corruption and bribery scandals. The men\u2019s team has qualified for just one World Cup, in 2002; it lost all three group games without scoring. It\u2019s currently ranked 91st in the world, behind Zambia, a country one-sixty-fourth its size. (China\u2019s women\u2019s team has enjoyed more success, including second-place finishes in the 1996 Olympics and the 1999 World Cup. It\u2019s ranked 16th.)<\/p>\n

Ma, from China\u2019s northeastern province of Liaoning, worked for years as a physical education teacher before he was selected in 2011 as an international referee. He continues to teach as an associate professor at Nanjing Sport Institute.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not so different, he said, from the process aging players go through. \u201dWe dedicate our youth, our best years, and everything we have to refereeing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And in Ma\u2019s case, to giving Chinese fans a reason this year to tune in. \u201cOther countries watch their teams at the World Cup,\u201d a third RedNote user said. \u201cWe watch our referees.\u201d<\/p>

Read more The Hurricanes blow away the Chiefs 60-5 in a Wellington gale to win the Super Rugby title<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On-field officials typically strive for anonymity. Ma Ning \u2014 or Card Master back home \u2014 has taken a different approach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nShut out of the World Cup again, China roots for a referee - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=4475\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shut out of the World Cup again, China roots for a referee - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On-field officials typically strive for anonymity. 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