With No Team in the World Cup, China’s Fans Celebrate a Referee

Most fans watching Curaçao’s 0-0 draw against Ecuador on Saturday night focused on the Curaçaoan goalkeeper, whose 15-save effort was compared to some of the greatest displays in World Cup history.

But for some fans in China, the main draw of the match was the tournament debut of Ma Ning, 47, the World Cup’s highest-ranking Chinese referee.

Because China did not qualify for the World Cup, Ma has become the country’s de facto representative at the tournament. His popularity has given him an unusually high-profile turn in a role that typically avoids the spotlight.

Ma was the first Chinese referee to work at this World Cup and was joined by two others from China, the assistant referee Zhou Fei and the video assistant referee Fu Ming. He is also the first Chinese referee to be selected for two consecutive World Cups (he was chosen for the 2022 tournament but did not receive an on-field assignment), and the first to officiate a World Cup match since 2002.

This was all cause for celebration in a country of 1.4 billion people whose team has not qualified for the World Cup since 2002, when it lost all three of its group stage games without scoring a goal.

Over the weekend, China’s state-run news media hailed the match in Kansas City, Mo., and the Chinese referees’ roles as a “historic milestone.” Some fans said on social media that they had tuned in just to watch Ma officiate.

On Saturday, several hashtags about his performance trended on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform. One of them, “Ma Ning issues two yellow cards in one minute,” referred to a sequence in the first half when he penalized both teams in quick succession.

Other social media users praised Ma for keeping his cool near the end of the half, when some members of the Ecuadorean team argued with him over a yellow card.

Ma will next take part in Tuesday’s match between England and Ghana, though on the sidelines as the fourth match official.

Ma has amassed over 130,000 followers on Weibo and over 350,000 followers on Rednote, an Instagram-like platform in China. He has received a slew of sponsorship and endorsement deals, appearing in ads over the past few weeks for companies including Meituan, China’s largest food delivery company, and Castrol, a British oil company.

Although Chinese fans are now rallying behind Ma, he has had his detractors. His nickname in China is “Card Master” for what some say is a tendency to penalize infractions with cards. In one 2015 Chinese Super League match in Shanghai, he issued nine yellow cards and three reds.

Before the World Cup, some fans joked that Ma traveled to matches with two suitcases, both filled with the cards.

So does he deserve the “Card Master” moniker?

According to Transfermarkt, a sports data site, Ma has issued 1,603 yellow cards and 55 red cards across 375 matches since 2009. That is about 4.3 yellow cards per match, higher than the average of about 3.5 per match that referees handed out at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, according to data from the site.

By that measure, at least, the nickname fits.