Russia, Qatar win World Cup bids

| Friday December 3, 2010 00:00

England and Russia plus two joint bids from Netherlands/Belgium and Spain/Portugal were contesting the 2018 decision.

The announcement of the winning bid was made by FIFA president Sepp Blatter at Zurich's Messezentrum.

Russia presented itself as a huge nation which had never before staged the World Cup, contrasting it with western Europe where all the major nations have staged the event.

Alexei Sorokin, the Russian bid's CEO, began by quoting Winston Churchill's famous description of Russia as 'a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.'

He said: 'We can understand this perception that foreigners have but it's a Russia...that no longer exists.'

England may have suffered from a backlash against corruption investigations into FIFA members by BBC Panorama and the Sunday Times over the last two months. These investigations were criticised both by Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin and Spain/Portugal bid president Angel Villar Llona in his presentation to fellow FIFA members yesterday.

The defeat comes despite an impressive presentation by England that was described by Blatter as 'excellent and remarkable'.

Prince William, David Cameron and David Beckham all sparkled but were all outshone by 27-year-old Eddie Afekafe, who works on Manchester City's community programmes. Meanwhile, Qatar will become the first Middle Eastern hosts of the World Cup after Blatter,  announced the 22 executive committee members had voted to award the 2022 tournament to a country of only 1.7m people, beating off the rival bids from the United States, who had been considered the favourites by many, Australia, South Korea and Japan. Qatar's bid had centred on an appeal to Fifa to take 'a bold gamble' by taking the World Cup to a region where football is popular and is beginning to emerge as world player in global sport. The victory will be viewed as a triumph for Mohammed Bin Hammam, the Fifa executive member, and president of the Asia Football Confederation, who is the favourite to succeed Blatter. But despite concerns regarding the blistering heat it was Qatar who convinced the Fifa voters.

'We know it would be a bold gamble and an exciting prospect but with no risk,' the bid chief executive, Hassan Al-Thawadi, said. 'Heat is not and will not be an issue.' (Eurosport/Guardian)