The bidding process for the next two available World Cups is expected to be announced Saturday following two days of discussions by FIFA, the world governing body for soccer.
FIFA's executive committee is due to announce a deadline by which bids have to be entered and decide if bidding should take place simultaneously for the 2018 and 2022 events.
The timetable is expected to prompt a flood of offers to host an event that is generally regarded as the second biggest sporting occasion after the Summer Olympics.
Speculation has spread in China that Beijing will bid for the World Cup. However, the Beijing Sports Bureau today denied a rumor that the capital wants to bid for soccer's biggest tournament, China Youth Daily reported.
There appears to be some confusion over the rumors and they appear far-fetched since only countries are given the right to host a World Cup, not cities.
Sun Kanglin, director of the Beijing Sports Bureau, spoke about the World Cup at a recent meeting. He stated that Beijing is qualified to stage World Cup games after hosting the 2008 Olympic Games. His comments may have been misconstrued to mean that Beijing is preparing a bid.
Meanwhile, FIFA spokesperson Nicolas Maingot said yesterday that Belgium and Netherlands' plan to stage the 2018 World Cup was the only bid to have been formally declared to the sport's governing body.
Several other countries, including the United States, Mexico, England, Spain, China and Australia, have however expressed interest either on an informal basis to FIFA officials or through national media statements, according to overseas agencies.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter has said he is in favor of a joint bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, even though such a move would be complicated by his organization's altered policy on the World Cup's global rotation.
FIFA threw out its strict continental rotation system last October, but still insists that a World Cup cannot be held on a continent that has hosted one of the two preceding World Cups.
For 2018 the situation should be simple with Africa and South America unable to bid for the event. South Africa is the host of the 2010 World Cup and Brazil will stage it in 2014, the report said.
Countries hoping to bid for the 2022 event would however face the risk of being automatically ruled out in the event that FIFA awards the 2018 tournament to a country on the same continent.
FIFA has not yet made clear if countries will be able to mount bids for both 2018 and 2022.
Source: Shanghai Daily/Agencies
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