By Mark Baber
June 13 – As China continues to increase its investments in football, at home and abroad, Wednesday’s meeting between President Xi Jinping and FIFA President Gianni Infantino in Beijing has ignited speculation on a potential Chinese World Cup bid for 2030.
At the Chinese Foreign Ministry regular press conference yeserday, spokesperson Lu Kang was asked whether President Xi and President Infantino would discuss the possibility of a World Cup in China and whether China would officially announce a bid to host the 2030 World Cup?
Kang answered: “This is the second time that you directed a football-related question to me at the Foreign Ministry’s press conference.”
“First of all, if we have anything about President Xi Jinping’s meetings with foreign guests, we will release them in a timely manner. Back to the topic of football, we certainly want to seek greater cooperation with FIFA and other countries in this field, which will also help improve China’s football skills. As for whether one day China will host the World Cup, which has been a dream for many Chinese, we also hope that that day would come sooner.”
Although Kang has not given much away, speculation about a 2030 bid remains rife particularly since Chinese Football Association vice president Zhang Jian said last year he would promote a Chinese World Cup in 2030.
Speculation on a 2030 bid has been further fuelled by Chinese companies signing sponsorship deals with FIFA and rumours in advance of the 67th FIFA Congress in Bahrain that FIFA would be looking to weaken the policy of continental rotation.
As it turned out, the Manama congress passed a motion saying: “Based on specific regulations to be issued by the Council, the FIFA general secretariat shall establish a bidding procedure inviting initially the member associations of CONCACAF, CAF, CONMEBOL and the OFC to express their interest by 11 August 2017 to submit to FIFA a bid to host the final competition of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The 68th FIFA Congress will decide on the selection of the candidate host associations.”
It is only “should the 68th FIFA Congress not select any candidate host associations” that “the FIFA general secretariat will invite further member associations – including the member associations of AFC and UEFA and excluding those member associations that submitted a bid initially – to submit a bid to host the final competition of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.”
With AFC nation Qatar scheduled to hold the 2022 World Cup, logic would suggest China would be ruled out of initial bidding for the 2030 World Cup. But the practicalities of FIFA’s financial requirements and the growing sponsor influence of China may encourage a change in the rotation policy.
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