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Following his recent appointment, Marcello Lippi has had his first game as coach of the Chinese International soccer team. Qatar were the opponents in their fifth FIFA World Cup Qualifier, played in Kunming on Tuesday Nov. 15th. 

Prior to Lippi being given the job, the Chinese team had not performed well in the qualifiers, so his appointment created a great debate among the Chinese soccer fraternity. 

The Tuesday game against Qatar therefore received much attention in China. According to CCTV, the average TV rating for that game in 35 major Chinese cities was 3.66% and the viewing share was 10.43%. This means that, of the entire population of these 35 cities, 3.66% of them watched the live broadcast and, of all those watching TV during that period in the 35 cities, 10.43% were watching the game. 

These viewership figures were very high. On the night the game itself ended in a scoreless draw.

‍‍‍‍Proofread by Sean O Diobhilin‍‍‍‍