China want to host World Cup 2014

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."