LONDON: Hosting football's showpiece competition the World Cup is a dream for both the Chinese government and the people, said China's leading sports event organiser Eric Gao on Tuesday.
Gao, who had flown in to London from Nice having witnessed England's dire performance in the 2-1 defeat by Iceland in the Euro 2016 last 16 clash, believed a bid could be in place for the 2034 finals.
"The three targets the central government have with regard to the World Cup are to qualify for one," Gao told reporters at the fashionable Ivy restaurant in the West End of London on Tuesday.
"To organise one and to win the trophy.
"The Chinese people love the World Cup. For them it is a dream to host one. People need to have dreams as they can come true.
"The sooner the better that we realise the dream. However, I would say the earliest would be after the 2030 World Cup," added Gao, who signed an agreement with English Premier League giants Arsenal last November to set up a series of football schools in China to develop young homegrown talent.
The hosts or indeed the bidders for the 2026 and 2030 editions have yet to be decided, the 2018 and 2022 tournaments having been controversially allocated to Russia and Qatar in December 2010 by FIFA's Executive Committee, most of whose members at the time are now embroiled in a corruption scandal that has torn the body apart.
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