Chinese Referee Ma Ning Becomes Viral Star After National Team's World Cup Absence
Chinese football fans have adopted referee Ma Ning, nicknamed "Card Master," as their representative at the World Cup after China's national team failed to qualify for the tournament. Ma, 46, has become an unlikely viral sensation with 3.6 million views on a Weibo hashtag about his trip and 195,000 RedNote followers in two weeks. His popularity reflects Chinese fans' disappointment with their team's absence and has led to brand collaborations with companies like Lenovo and Hisense.
With China's national football team absent from the World Cup for the third consecutive tournament, Chinese fans have rallied around referee Ma Ning as an unconventional symbol of national representation. Ma, who earned the "Card Master" nickname after issuing nine yellow cards and three reds in a 2015 Shanghai derby, has leveraged his World Cup assignment into unexpected celebrity status through social media. His posts—including one showing him drawing a red book from his pocket as a play on RedNote's Chinese name—have generated millions of views and attracted brand partnerships. Ma is making his second World Cup appearance as the only Chinese match referee at the tournament, alongside assistant referee Zhou Fei and VAR official Fu Ming. The viral phenomenon reflects both Chinese fans' frustration with their team's repeated qualification failures and their embrace of humor in response to national disappointment.
What different sources said
- Channel NewsAsiaCenter
Success-starved China fans adopt 'Card Master' referee as World Cup rep
- BBC Top StoriesCenter
With no team in World Cup, China fans rally around a red card-happy referee
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