altFEBRUARY 2 - CHINA has reportedly ruled out a bid for either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup tournaments, it was claimed in Beijing today.

 

After the successful hosting of last August's Beijing Olympics and the 2007 women's World Cup finals, China was expected to officially register its interest in bidding for the tournaments before todya's deadline set FIFA.

 

But the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper today said that the chances of them bidding were "zero".

 

An unnamed official said: "In China, the decision of whether to bid for an international sports event like the World Cup is decided by the Government."

 

China is instead expected to concentrate on bidding for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Harbin.

 

If they had bid, China would have become the fifth country from the Asian Confederation to put themselves forward alongside Australia, Indonesia, Japan and Qatar.

 

England are the early favourites to host the event but face stiff competition from the four Asian countries plus Mexcico, Russia and the United States, who will officially announce their candidature later today.

 

There are also joint bids from Belgium-Netherlands and Portugal-Spain but FIFA President Sepp Blatter said last week that they were unlikely to succeed.