FIFA Soccer World Cup Bidding Over With Amazing Results - - Russia to Host 2018; While Qatar Wins the Race for 2022

Sepp Blatter - FIFA President

Russia is awarded, amazingly, to host the 2018 FIFA Soccer World Cup and, even miraculously, the little Gulf state of Qatar is awarded the 2022 FIFA Soccer World Cup today (Thursday, December 2) after a hostile bidding war spoiled by corruption charges and unlawful deal-making.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter revealed the winners after a secret ballot of 22 FIFA executive committee members in Zurich. In the process, Russia overcome in the 2018 race, shocking England and joint bids from Spain & Portugal and Belgium & the Netherlands. The 2018 outcome was a stunning comeback for Russia in the view of the recent statements from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and refusal to be the part of lobbying effort in Zurich.  

On the other hand, Qatar’s victory in 2022 race against stiff competitors like United States, Australia, South Korea and Japan was the real shock of the day. Qatar’s win was just beyond any expectation in the view of logistical problems of staging the biggest football tournament in the Gulf during the searing heat of the summer months.

Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Thani, Qatar 2022 bid president, promised, "We won't let you down. You will be proud of us, proud of the Middle East." Even though the Qataris have pledged to build a range of state-of-the-art climate-controlled stadiums; but it would be a challenge for them as the technology has never been tested before on a large-scale.

Mr. Blatter acknowledged the mistake of staging the voting process for two events in the same time that led to illegal approaches to get out of the way supports that spoiled the transparency of bidding process. Earlier FIFA was chased by number of corruption charges, which led to the suspension of two executive committee members, before the unfolding of the outcomes for both 2018 and 2022 mega soccer tournament today.

The outcomes brought the curtain down on the most controversial World Cup votes in years, with FIFA facing numerous charges of corruption which led to two executive committee members being suspended.

Over and all, the announcement means the FIFA Soccer World Cups will be staged in two countries which have never hosted the event before following the 2014 tournament in Brazil.