The sport has found itself in the crosshairs of the Communist Party’s purity drive in recent years, and players on the national football team routinely cover their arms with long sleeves or bandages to hide their tattoos.

But the China Sports Administration statement, dated Tuesday, said that players in the national team “are strictly prohibited from having new tattoos”.

“Those who have tattoos are advised to have them removed,” the statement continued. “In special circumstances, the tattoos must be covered during training and competition, with the consent of the rest of the team.”

It went on to say that the under-20 national teams and those even younger were “strictly prohibited” from recruiting anyone with tattoos.

But not all fans appeared to be behind the new rules.

“Are we choosing a good football player or a saint?” asked one angry fan on the social media platform Weibo.

“Shall we just say outright that only the Party members could play football?” asked another.

Body ink is traditionally frowned upon in China but it is increasingly popular among young adults, even as authorities make plain their disdain for it.

The Chinese Football Association has ordered players in the national team to cover tattoos in recent years and packed young footballers off to military camps for drills and Marxist-style “thought education”.

That has prompted complaints from fans that it is thinking more about politics than sport.

Last year, a women’s university football match was eventually called off after players were told they were not allowed to have dyed hair.

President Xi Jinping wants China to host and even win the World Cup one day.

But they are fifth of six teams in their qualifying group for next year’s World Cup, with only the top two guaranteed to qualify.

This year, Beijing has also pushed through a series of restrictions on youth culture, including sweeping measures to ban “abnormal aesthetics” and crack down on the perceived excesses of modern entertainment.

It has made an example out of movie stars that allegedly stepped out of line, banned reality talent shows and ordered broadcasters to stop featuring “sissy” men and “vulgar influencers”.

As tensions have mounted with the West, China has also pushed a nationalist and militaristic narrative at home, including a vision of tough masculinity.

AFP

The post Olympics: Remove Your Tattoos, Beijing Tells Football Players appeared first on Daily Dates Nigeria.

Renowned for his ability to control the ball and create scoring opportunities for himself and others, he led club teams to championships in Argentina, Italy, and Spain, and he starred on the Argentine national team that won the 1986 World Cup.

Maradona displayed football talent early, and at age eight he joined Las Cebollitas (“The Little Onions”), a boys’ team that went on to win 136 consecutive games and a national championship. He signed with Argentinos Juniors at age 14 and made his first-division debut in 1976, 10 days before his 16th birthday. Only four months later he made his debut with the national team, becoming the youngest Argentine ever to do so. Although he was excluded from the 1978 World Cup-winning squad because it was felt that he was still too young, the next year he led the national under-20 team to a Junior World Cup championship.

Maradona moved to Boca Juniors in 1981 and immediately helped them gain the championship. He then moved to Europe, playing with FC Barcelona in 1982 (and winning the Spanish Cup in 1983) and then SSC Napoli (1984–91), where he enjoyed great success, raising the traditionally weak Naples side to the heights of Italian football. With Maradona the team won the league title and cup in 1987 and the league title again in 1990. Maradona’s stint with Napoli came to an end when he was arrested in Argentina for cocaine possession and received a 15-month suspension from playing football. Next he played for Sevilla in Spain and Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina. In 1995 he returned to Boca Juniors and played his last match on October 25, 1997.

Maradona’s career with the Argentine national team included World Cup appearances in 1982, 1986, 1990, and 1994. He dominated the 1986 competition in Mexico. In a 2–1 quarterfinal victory over England, he scored two of the most memorable goals in World Cup history. The first was scored with his hand (the referee mistakenly thought the ball had struck his head), a goal now remembered as the “Hand of God” goal. The second occurred after Maradona gained possession of the ball at midfield and dribbled through a pack of English defenders and past the keeper before depositing the ball in the goal. He did not finish the 1994 World Cup, because he tested positive for the drug ephedrine and was again suspended. Maradona also played on South American championship-winning teams in 1987 and 1989.

In 2008 Maradona was named head coach of the Argentine national team. Shortly after leading Argentina to the quarterfinals of the 2010 World Cup, he and the country’s football governing body could not agree on a contract extension, and his tenure as the team’s head coach ended. In 2011 Maradona was hired to coach the United Arab Emirates club Al Wasl. However, the team struggled, and Maradona was fired the following year. He worked for several other clubs before becoming coach of Mexico’s Dorados de Sinaloa in 2018.

Source: Britannica

The post Diego Maradona: Argentina Legend Dies Aged 60 appeared first on Daily Dates Nigeria.