Chinese Referee Ma Ning Becomes Viral Star After National Team's World Cup Absence
With China's national team failing to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Chinese fans have rallied around referee Ma Ning as the country's de facto representative at the tournament. Ma, 46, earned the nickname 'Card Master' after issuing nine yellow cards and three reds in a 2015 Shanghai derby, and has since gone viral on Chinese social media with millions of views and nearly 200,000 followers on RedNote. His unexpected celebrity has translated into brand deals with major Chinese companies including Lenovo, Hisense, and Mengniu, highlighting a rare area of Chinese football success on the world stage.
Chinese football fans, left without a national team to support at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America, have embraced referee Ma Ning as the country's symbolic representative at the tournament. Ma, a 46-year-old FIFA-certified referee since 2011 who also lectures at the Nanjing Sport Institute, gained his 'Card Master' nickname after a notoriously ill-tempered 2015 Chinese Super League Shanghai derby in which he issued nine yellow cards and three red cards. His social media presence has exploded since he announced his World Cup appointment, with topics related to him accumulating over 25 million views on Weibo and his RedNote account amassing nearly 200,000 followers in under two weeks. A viral collage circulating online humorously positions Ma alone at an airport as China's sole 'team' heading to the tournament. He has leaned into the attention with playful posts, including one showing him pulling a little red book from his referee shirt pocket — a nod to both his card-happy reputation and RedNote's Chinese name. Ma has also secured brand ambassador deals with Lenovo, Hisense, and Mengniu dairy, with one widely shared post joking that in China, endorsement deals go to the referee rather than star players. This is Ma's second World Cup, having served as a fourth official in Qatar in 2022; he is joined in North America by assistant referee Zhou Fei and VAR official Fu Ming. China has not qualified for the World Cup since its sole appearance in 2002, a run marked by funding crises and widespread corruption scandals in domestic football.
What's missing
It is unclear which specific matches Ma Ning has been assigned to officiate at the 2026 World Cup, which would further clarify the scope of his role at the tournament.
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
- NewsweekCenter
With No Team At The World Cup, Chinese Are Rallying Around a Referee
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