China’s sports administration body has imposed a total ban on tattoos, saying that those who have one should remove them.
The General Administration of Sports of China published a series of guidelines on Tuesday to “strengthen the management of soccer players,” among which is the prohibition of members of the national team to get new tattoos, collects today the local newspaper The Paper.
The guidelines aim to make footballers be “Positive examples for society” Y 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: at the China Cup in 2018, many players had to cover their tattoos with bandages.
In official photographs of the components of the Chinese team, tattoos such as those worn on the arms by Chinese players such as Zhang Xizhe or Zhang Linpeng have been erased with image retouching programs on some occasions.
The Administration also added in its guidelines the organization of activities of “ideological and political education” in the national teams. to reinforce the “patriotic education” of the players.
Not classified for the World Cup since 2002
The Chinese soccer team reaped a new failure this year with virtually no chance of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, in a poor performance that led to the resignation of their coach, Li Tie.
China has not qualified for a World Cup since the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, for which it did not have to face local powers South Korea and Japan as they were already classified as hosts.
Despite government efforts to raise the country’s soccer level, the national team continues to reap poor results and harsh criticism from fans.
For this reason, some Internet users on the social network Weibo criticized the prohibition of tattoos: “They do not 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 East Asian societies, we have always rejected tattoos” or “we must protect the next generations,” said two commentators. (I)
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