China's football chief on Saturday said the country is working towards a bid for the 2018 World Cup, although FIFA president Sepp Blatter cautioned against over-confidence.
Fresh from a successful women's World Cup, Chinese Football Association (CFA) head Xie Yalong said China planned to host a high-level men's tournament and boost its technical infrastructure with a view to landing the big prize.
"We are in talks with FIFA regarding technical issues involved in hosting a men's World Cup and the CFA is committed to creating conditions to lay foundations for this event," Xie said.
"We are preparing a feasibility report and we need to go through the approval procedures," he added, thanking Blatter for his "positive comments" on the women's World Cup
"We still have ample time to do our homework well, to do the research. When our work is completed we will let you know what our decision is." However, Blatter said FIFA had not yet decided whether to continue its rotation policy between continents or throw the 2018 tournament open to global bidders.
England, home of the hugely popular Premier League, and the United States have also announced their intentions to host the 2018 edition. "They have the ability to organise a World Cup. Any country that can organise an Olympic Games with 28 different sports, can organise a World Cup," Blatter said.
"But the FIFA executive committee must first decide if the market is open in 2018 or later. "So I have to bring back a little the enthusiasm in this room and among the 1.4 billion fans of football in this country. But definitely it would be a good candidate."
South Africa is hosting the 2010 World Cup and FIFA will decide next month whether to hand the 2014 tournament to five-times winners Brazil. The women's World Cup concludes on Sunday with defending champions Germany facing Brazil in the final here.
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