Chinese referee Ma Ning has become the unlikely face of the 2026 World Cup in China, with memes about the 46-year-old going viral and multiple domestic brands announcing collaborations with him.

Over the past week, Ma has been announced as brand ambassador for several major Chinese companies, including tech giant Lenovo, consumer electronics maker Hisense, and dairy brand Mengniu. Official accounts dedicated to Ma have also been launched on lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, and video streaming site Bilibili.

Ma is the only Chinese match referee at this year’s FIFA World Cup, which will run from June 12 to July 20. It marks his second appearance at a World Cup, following his debut at the 2022 tournament in Qatar, where he served as a fourth official — an assistant referee who works off-pitch.

With China’s national football team failing to qualify for this year’s World Cup, Ma has emerged as someone Chinese fans can still support. Ma is joined at the tournament by assistant referee Zhou Fei and VAR official Fu Ming.

“China has been absent from the World Cup for 24 years, so any Chinese presence — whether a player or even a referee — becomes a rare and highly visible point of connection,” Chen Diandian, founding partner of domestic sports media and consulting group ECO Sports, told Sixth Tone.

Born in China’s northeastern Liaoning province, Ma worked as a college PE teacher before transitioning into professional refereeing in 2010.

Over his decadelong career, he has drawn both praise and criticism for his strict attitude toward unruly players. In a 2015 domestic match, he issued nine yellow cards and three red cards, a performance that earned him the nickname “card master” among fans. In 2025, the Chinese Super League averaged 4.13 yellow cards and 0.22 red cards per game.

On Chinese social media, Ma’s strict refereeing has also fueled the creation of viral memes featuring his face alongside red and yellow cards. Topics related to Ma have garnered over 3 billion views on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and nearly 100 million on Xiaohongshu.

In contrast to his previous stern public image, his partnership with Xiaohongshu, one of the three authorized broadcasters of this year’s World Cup in China, casts him in a more playful light. His first post on the platform shows him holding up a “Little Red Book,” a play on the platform’s Chinese name as well as a visual pun on his habit of dealing out red cards.

The account, which has so far tracked Ma’s journey to the World Cup, gained 147,000 followers in a week, with some users describing him as the “most suitable referee” for football’s biggest tournament.

“I hope Mr. Ma penalizes what should be penalized. You don’t need to worry; they won’t retaliate against your country, because it’s strong, and they won’t retaliate against your team, because there isn’t one,” read one widely upvoted comment, joking that with China’s men’s team absent from the tournament, the referee need not fear backlash.

In its ad with the referee, Lenovo, an official FIFA World Cup partner, ran the campaign slogan, “World Cup, Chinese technology is here,” hinting at the company’s technological prowess and Ma’s refereeing expertise.

Chen, of ECO Sports, pointed to referees’ institutional credibility as a key marketing advantage. “A referee is, in a sense, the ‘judge’ of the game,” he said. “That authority and neutrality can transfer to brands, lending them a sense of trust and legitimacy that is very valuable in marketing terms.”

Editor: Marianne Gunnarsson.

(Header image: Referee Ma Ning shows a yellow card during the AFC Asian Cup final match in Lusail City, Qatar, 2024. Gao Meng/VCG)