China World Cup bid only a matter of time, says country’s new man in football’s corridors of power
Zhang Jian says further study is required on which tournament to bid for and suggests the government will have final say on ‘national project’
Zhang Jian, China’s newly elected Fifa council member, says a World Cup bid from the country will come “sooner or later” and said his elevation to world football’s main decision-making body would boost the country’s status in world football.
Chinese president Xi Jinping has declared that the country must qualify for, host and eventually win a World Cup in coming decades under the country’s plan to become a “soccer superpower”.
“A World Cup bid can be said to come sooner or later, because it is written in black and white in the ‘Chinese football overall reform and development programme’,” Zhang, vice-president and general secretary of the Chinese Football Association, told state media outlet Xinhua at the World Football Forum in Changsha, Hunan.
“But as for the specific bid for which World Cup, it must be based on a comprehensive assessment of all aspects of the situation. At the same time the World Cup bid is also a national project – it’s not just the Chinese Football Association that can decide such a thing; we will base it on the development of the situation ... it’s a major [project] that we will seriously study.”
