Chinese soccer fans are buying sick notes so they can watch World Cup games live

Chinese soccer fans are buying sick notes so they can watch World Cup games live
(Image credit: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

The World Cup hasn't even started yet and people in China are already sick of it — sort of.

Soccer fans are paying as much as $50 for a pack of paper that contains a hospital stamp and a "convincing diagnostic scrawl from a doctor" so they can use the time-tested sick leave excuse to watch the games. Feigning a cold might not be the silliest idea, since the games are scheduled to air between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. local thanks to the time difference.

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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.