With the end of the Asian Cup in Qatar, Chinese football is once again facing the challenge of the World Cup. Although the number of places in the Asian zone of the World Cup has increased to 85, but the ranking of the national football team failed to enter the top eight, and it is regrettable to see that the speed of decline in the level of the national football team does not seem to be able to keep up with the increase in the number of places. In the Asian Cup, the national football team ended up in 18th place, and even if the World Cup quota was doubled, our ranking was not covered. This undoubtedly shows that if the national football team wants to enter the World Cup, it cannot just rely on luck and the sudden outbreak of state, and the gap in hard power is obvious.
However, for Chinese football to enter the World Cup, we have more reason to be optimistic about the performance of Chinese referees. Ma Ning, as a leading figure in the domestic refereeing industry, has officiated the Asian Cup final with Fu Ming, Zhou Fei and Zhang Cheng, further consolidating the status of Chinese referees in Asian football. What's even more exciting is that Ma Ning has also been shortlisted for the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup referee, and Fu Ming is a VAR referee candidate. Although there are many people in Asia who have been selected for this list, only Fagani, Jassim and Manin have participated in the last World Cup. FIFA will not appoint an inexperienced referee to referee the World Cup, so Manin's chances are very high.
However, Manin's age is always an uncertain factor. He is 44 years old this year, and he is close to the retirement age of 45. Both FIFA and the Chinese Football Association have a 45-year-old retirement setting, but FIFA is becoming more and more vague about this rule, and it is not a non-negotiable rule. The Italian referee for the opening match of the last World Cup has already exceeded the 45-year-old limit, so Manin will be 47 years old by 2026. If all other conditions meet the requirements for officiating the World Cup, then FIFA will not put obstacles in his way.
Although FIFA has diluted this rule, the Chinese Football Association is still sticking to the rules, and 45 years old is still the "big limit" for the referee's career. The referee committee of the Football Association has just carried out a one-size-fits-all retirement method for referees in accordance with this rule, and Shi Zhenlu, Zhang Long, and Ma Li, who are over 45 years old, must be forced to retire, including Wang Zhe, who is already 49 years old. Wang Zhe retired at the age of 49, which shows that the Football Association did not force referees over 45 years old to retire before, and only started to do so this year. Therefore, whether Ma Ning can officiate the World Cup depends on whether the Football Association will let him retire.
At present, Ma Ning is performing very well in all aspects. Despite being 44 years old, he has been at the top of his fitness tests during the Asian Cup, and the level of enforcement on the international stage is also obvious to all. Now that FIFA has downplayed this rule, the Chinese Football Association should not put obstacles in this regard. After all, it may be all up to the referee for Chinese football to enter the World Cup, and the difficulty for the national football team to enter the World Cup may be much higher than that for Chinese referees to enforce the World Cup.
The development of Chinese football is facing many challenges, and both the national football team and the referee need to make continuous efforts and improvements. We look forward to greater breakthroughs in Chinese football on the international stage, and both players and referees can win glory for the country.
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