No tatts for football players

Footballers playing in China’s national team should remove any existing tattoos and are “strictly prohibited” from getting any new ones, the country’s sports administration body says.

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 to hide their tattoos. But the China Sports Administration now says the players “are strictly prohibited from having new tattoos”, and those who have them should have them removed. Not all fans are behind the new rules. “Are we choosing a good football player or a saint?” asked one angry fan on the social media platform Weibo.