• World Cup 2018

Russia to host World Cup 2018, Qatar gets 2022

ESPN staff
December 2, 2010
Sepp Blatter opens the envelope © Getty Images
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Russia has won the FIFA vote to host the 2018 World Cup finals, beating competition from England, Netherlands/Belgium and Spain/Portugal.

FIFA chief Sepp Blatter announced the result of the 22-member panel in Zurich, Switzerland, on Thursday afternoon. It will be the first time Russia has hosted the tournament.

Qatar has been awarded the 2022 World Cup finals after seeing off challenges from Australia, Japan, South Korea and the USA. The Middle Eastern country will also host the tournament for the first time.

The FIFA executive committees' decision comes as a slight surprise after the US and Australia bids had been highly-fancied.

Qatar's staging of the tournament had come in for some criticism because of the weather in the country during June and July - when temperatures can rise as high as 50 degrees Celsius - while the close proximity of the stadiums had also raised some questions.

England's bid to host the 2018 finals looked to have suffered from a backlash against corruption investigations into FIFA members by BBC Panorama and the Sunday Times over the last two months.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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