China bans soccer players from getting new tattoos

The General Sports Administration from China published on Tuesday a series of guidelines to “strengthen the management of soccer players”, among which is the prohibition of members of the national team from getting new tattoos, the local media reported today The Paper.

The guidelines aim to make footballers “positive examples for society” and recommend that those who already have tattoos erase them, in addition to prohibiting the U-20 and lower teams from calling up players with tattooed bodies.

It is not the first time that tattoos have caused controversy in Chinese football: in the China Cup disputed in 2018, many players had to cover their tattoos with bandages.

In official photographs of the components of the Chinese team, tattoos like the ones that Chinese players like Zhang Xizhe The Zhang Linpeng they have been erased with image retouching programs on some occasions.

The Management It also added in its guidelines the organization of “ideological and political education” activities in the national teams to reinforce the “patriotic education” of the players.

The Chinese soccer team reaped a new failure this year, having virtually no chance of qualifying for the Qatar World Cup of 2022, in a bad performance that caused the resignation of his coach, Li Tie.

China does not qualify for a world Cup from the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, for which he did not have to face local powers South Korea Y Japan because they are already classified as hostesses.

Despite government efforts to raise the country’s soccer level, the team continues to reap poor results and harsh criticism from fans.

Therefore, some Internet users on the social network Weibo they criticized the tattoo ban: “They don’t take charge of what they should take charge, they do insignificant things to show that they are doing something,” commented one user.

Others, on the other hand, supported the measure: “In societies of Asia Oriental, we have always rejected tattoos “or” we must protect the next generations, “claimed two commentators.

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