With no team in World Cup, China fans rally around a red card-happy referee

With no team in World Cup, China fans rally around a red card-happy referee5 hours agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleKelly NgGetty ImagesChinese referee Ma Ning is known for his stern styleWith its national team failing to qualify again for the World Cup, China's football fans have adopted a referee as the country's star representative at the tournament, which begins on Thursday.Ma Ning, 46, has sparked viral memes and attracted sponsorships from major Chinese brands, including tech company Lenovo and electronics giant Hisense.Ma is known for his stern style. At a 2015 match in Shanghai, he dished out nine yellow cards and three red ones – a milestone in his refereeing career that earned him the nickname "card master".This will be his second World Cup appearance since his debut in Qatar four years ago, when he served as a fourth official who assisted the referee off pitch.Topics related to Ma have generated millions of views on RedNote and other Chinese social media platforms, with some users rooting for him, and others lamenting about the state of sport in China."We have Ma Ning, who do you have?" one RedNote user wrote."Other countries get to watch their own teams play, while we'll watch our referee issue cards," another declared.Ma is now in Miami for a 10-day officials' camp, where he is joined by two other Chinese representatives, assistant referee Zhou Fei and video assistant referee Fu Ming. Both Zhou's and Fu's roles involve supporting the main referees from the sidelines.Ma has been certified as a referee by FIFA, the global governing body for football, since 2011. He also lectures at the Nanjing Sport Institute.To document his upcoming World Cup journey, he started an account on RedNote, China's Instagram-like platform, two weeks ago, and has readily gained 197,000 followers. WeiboA meme, made by a Weibo user, comparing photos of various national football teams and Ma NingHis first post o...