Ning is the only referee from China at this World Cup. He is officiating at the World Cup for the second time in a row.
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China, which does not have a national team to support at the World Cup, will be looking to referee Ma Ning. He is known as the 'card master' because he shows players so many cards. Ning will be the only representative of China at the World Cup.
In the backdrop of China's failure to qualify for the World Cup once again, 46-year-old Ning has become an incongruous viral sensation in China. He came into the spotlight last month after sharing a photo of himself leaving for North America for the World Cup.
A post on Weibo, the social media platform, with the hashtag 'Ma', about his trip to the World Cup, has been viewed by 36 million people, while his Red Note account has gained 195,000 followers in less than two weeks. He has been seen in collaborations with laptop manufacturer Lenovo, electronics manufacturer Hisense and dairy company Mengniu.
In his first post on RedNote, he took out a small red book from his front pocket and made a sarcastic comment from a platform called Chinese. In another post, he was preparing to leave for Mexico, Canada and the United States for the World Cup.
‘His bag is probably full of yellow and red cards,’ one Weibo user commented on Ning’s post under the airport. He earned the nickname ‘Card Master’ after showing 9 yellow cards and 3 red cards in the 2015 Shanghai derby.
Others are rejoicing that China has mediated the dispute at the prospect of Ning refereeing the US-Iran match. ‘The whole country is with you (when no one from the Chinese football team is there),’ another social media user responded on Jibe.
Ning is the only referee from China at this World Cup. He is refereeing for the second time in a row at the World Cup. He was the fourth official at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. China's Zhou Fei will be the assistant referee and Fu Ming will be involved with VAR at this World Cup.
