On April 14, Shanghai Seaport defeated Shandong Taishan 4-3 at home in the sixth round of the Chinese Super League. It is worth mentioning that 34-year-old Xie Lijun became the first female referee on the enforcement stage of China's top men's professional soccer league. In an interview with Beijing Youth Daily, Xie Lijun said her next goal is to enforce the men's soccer championship league.
Xie Lijun was born in 1989 in Bazhong, Sichuan Province, the same age as Zhang Linlian, the captain of Shanghai Port in the Chinese Super League, who made his debut on the night of the 14th. Currently, she works as a yoga, soccer and volleyball teacher in the School of Physical Education at Jinjiang College of Sichuan University. Xie Lijun has struggled for 14 years, from raising the side flag for the first time at a secondary school tournament in Sichuan province in December 2009, to joining the international referee enforcement camp in 2019 (joining the AFC Elite Female Referee Class in June of the same year), and now taking to the World Cup enforcement stage.
In fact, before joining soccer law enforcement, Lydia Hsieh had never played the sport professionally. Xie Lijun said, "In school, I used to major in track and field. Because of my excellent running form and physical condition, I was tall, so I was liked by the soccer teachers at Sichuan Arts and Science College."
On the night of the 14th, in the Chinese super Shanghai and Lu battle as a referee is the 2022 Men's Football World Cup final referee camp, and in February this year as the 18th Men's Football Asian Cup final "Golden Sentinel" Ma Ning. In the view of Xie Lijun, 10-year-old Ma Ning is not only a friend, but also a good teacher. According to reports, before arriving at the 9th Women's World Cup Referee Camp on July 8 last year, Xie Lijun did a lot of homework and consulted with many teachers in the industry, including Ma Ning. In her opinion, Manning helped her a lot. Lijun Xie said, "Mr. Ma really gave me a lot of encouragement. He said, don't be nervous."
Talking about the future goals, Xie Lijun said: modern soccer women's soccer men's trend is very obvious, female referees to enforce men's soccer matches in Europe is very common. Therefore, I have been working hard in this direction. In the long run, we can look around. But the nearest goal is our 2027 Women's Soccer World Cup. FIFA has asked us for it. After enforcing the men's professional soccer league, the next step is to go to the Asian men's soccer league to enforce and train."
