'No team, but there is a referee': China's sole World Cup official eyes card-heavy debut

Ma Ning is the only Chinese national refereeing at the North America World Cup, known for strict officiating — and fans are hoping he gets the US-Iran match

Chinese referee Ma Ning officiates the AFC Asian Cup final between Jordan and Qatar at Lusail Stadium in Qatar in February 2024. [Getty Images]

China's national team failed to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off Thursday in North America, but the country still has a presence on the pitch — through its referee.

Chinese referee Ma Ning, 46, has emerged as a new "World Cup star" for Chinese football fans, the BBC reported. He is the only Chinese national officiating at the tournament.

Ma earned his FIFA referee certification in 2011 and is making his second World Cup appearance, having served as the fourth official at the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

Referee Ma Ning shows a yellow card to Esteghlal's Mohammad Zobeyri Niknafs during an AFC Champions League Elite match between Al-Ahli and Esteghlal at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in December 2024. [Getty Images]

Ma is currently attending an international referee camp in Miami and will be joined at the tournament by Chinese assistant referee Zhou Fei and VAR official Fu Ming.

He has a well-established reputation for strict officiating. In one match in Shanghai in 2015, he brandished nine yellow cards and three red cards, earning the nickname "Card Master."

The notoriety has generated millions of posts on Chinese social media. Some fans have rallied behind him, while others have used his moment in the spotlight to take a wry look at the state of Chinese football, the BBC reported.

On Xiaohongshu — China's answer to Instagram, also known as RedNote — one user wrote: "We have Ma Ning. Who do you have?" Another posted: "People from other countries get to watch their national team play. We get to watch our referee pull out cards."

Chinese referee Ma Ning faces off with Al Nassr manager Luis Castro during a second-leg AFC Champions League round-of-16 match between Al Nassr and Al Fayha at Al Awal Park in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in February 2024. [Getty Images]

Ma recently opened a Xiaohongshu account to document his World Cup preparations. It drew roughly 200,000 followers within two weeks of launching.

His first post showed him pulling a red notebook from the front pocket of a referee's jersey. He has since shared videos of himself packing his bags and training. One Weibo user quipped that his luggage was probably "stuffed with yellow and red cards."

Some fans are also hoping Ma will be assigned to the United States-Iran match, Hong Kong outlet The Standard reported, drawing a parallel to China's role as a diplomatic mediator amid US-Iran tensions.

Meanwhile, China's national team has not qualified for the World Cup since the 2002 Korea-Japan tournament. Chinese football has been plagued for more than two decades by financial difficulties and corruption, and some players, referees and club officials have received lifetime bans on charges including match-fixing.

yckim6452@heraldcorp.com