Asian football chief Peter
Velappan has revealed that China will bid for the 2014 World Cup after the
success of the tournament in Japan and Korea. "Our next hosts will be
China," he said.
China made their World Cup debut at this summer's tournament and hope to
capitalise on the football fever engulfing the Far East.
"China will stage the Fifa Women's World Cup in 2003, the Asian Cup
in 2004, and the Olympic Games in 2008. So I think 2014 would be the
perfect time for China to make a serious bid for the World Cup," said
Velappan.
"I am having a meeting with the Chinese Football Association next
month and will encourage them to bid for the World Cup in 2014.
"By that time, China will be a real economic power, and the consumer
spending and buying power will be high.
"They will have the stadiums and the infrastructure, and it would be
taking place in a passionate football country of 1.3 billion people. It
would also be a great attraction for foreigners to go to China. By that
time, China will also be a member of the World Trade Organisation."
Germany will host the 2006 World Cup, with the 2010 tournament expected to
go to South Africa.
Asia will then have a strong case for hosting the tournament in 2014.
Velappan believes the only other contenders to solely host an Asian World
Cup are Iran and India, but did not rule out the possibility of
co-hosting.
"Six years ago, not many people in Fifa believed it could work but it
has been a wonderful experience. So we could have a situation where
Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and even Vietnam could come together.
"After all, the major cities are all within two hours of each other,
much closer than in the United States and also here.
"But again they would have to improve their national teams and then
you have a problem of how many teams can qualify automatically."
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