China will bid to host the World Cup 2014 following the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, announced Zhang Jilong, vice-president of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

"We choose to bid for the World Cup 2014 since 2006's event has been decided in Germany and 2010's in an African country," said Zhang during an interview with China's CCTV5 on Monday. "The work will be given top priority in the AFC's next 10-year working plan."

According to the bidding procedures of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), candidate countries should submit their proposals six years before the opening of the event. Therefore, Zhang believes 2014 is an appropriate time for China to submit its bid.

Dato' Peter Velappan, general secretary of the AFC, expressed a different point of view.

"I hope China will bid for the World Cup 2018," said Velappan. "After the Olympic Games, China will possess a good number of qualified facilities. The figure of them may even surpass the sum of Japan’s and Korea’s. It's very important to acquire a hardware like this."  

Velapan came to China to inspect the preparation work for the 10th Asian Cup, which opens in China in next summer.

(by Fang Xuan)

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