China to test FIFA World Cup bid in advance of target to host 2034 tournament

China is reportedly to make a ‘test’ bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup ahead of expectation to stage the 2034 tournament.

According to a report in the South China Morning Post, the official announcement to host world football’s largest event will come in May 2019 with the visit of FIFA President Gianni Infantino and the FIFA Legends on Tour to China.

It has long been speculated that China would bid for the 2030 edition of the tournament, the centenary tournament 100 years after the first World Cup, and the impending return of the FIFA President to the country adds weight to the speculation.

The source said the 2030 bid would likely be a test run ahead of China bidding for and expecting to win the right to host the 2034 World Cup.

The bid may follow Shanghai’s planned hosting of the Summer Olympic Games in 2032 with China’s commercial centre having one of the country’s only football-specific stadiums in Hongkou Stadium, the home of Shanghai Shenhua, while newly crowned Chinese Super League champions Shanghai SIPG will soon move into a football-specific stadium of their own.

Hosting the Olympics and World Cup in quick succession would follow the example of Brazil, which held the 2014 World Cup and the Rio Olympics two years later.

The Chinese Government has flagged its interest in hosting the World Cup over several years, with President Xi Jinping announcing, in 2011, a goal to host the World Cup, something he reiterated to Infantino when the pair met in Beijing last year.

After that meeting, a statement was released advising “the Chinese President expressed his hope, and the dream of many Chinese people, that the country would have the opportunity to host a Fifa Men’s World Cup at some stage in the future.”

China qualified for its only World Cup appearance in 2002 when the tournament took place in Japan and South Korea.

2002 has been the only time to date that the World Cup has been held in Asia, with the 2022 tournament to be held in Qatar.

While China may have been missing from the teams qualified for the most recent World Cup in Russia, Chinese fans and companies were there in great numbers.

The 2026 edition of the tournament will be hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Lower image: Shanghai's Hongkou Stadium.