?? World Cup kick-off: 8pm EDT/1am BST/10am AEST
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The referee tonight is Ma Ning from China, where he has amassed quite a large fanbase (for a referee) owing to the country’s failure to qualify for any World Cup since 2002. He’s a big enough deal to have attracted sponsorships from the likes of Lenovo and Hisense, according to the BBC.
Nicknamed the “card master” owing to his strict approach, this will be Ma Ning’s World Cup debut – the first game officiated by a Chinese referee since the 2002 edition.
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