Russia & Qatar to host Football World Cup's in 2018 - 2022

Russia and the tiny Gulf state of Qatar were awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups Thursday after an acrimonious bidding war marred by allegations of corruption and illegal deal-making.

The announcement means the World Cup will be staged in two countries which have never hosted the event before following the 2014 tournament in Brazil. Russia prevailed in the 2018 race, upsetting England and joint bids from Spain and Portugal and Belgium and the Netherlands.

The outcome represented a stunning comeback for Russia, whose campaign had believed to be in trouble after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declined to join the lobbying effort in Zurich. Putin had also launched a stinging attack on England's bid on the eve of the vote, accusing the country's media of "smearing" officials. But the shock of the day came in the 2022 race, where Qatar beat off stiff competition from the United States, Australia and Asian rivals South Korea and Japan in a remarkable result.

The Middle East country was awarded the tournament by Fifa's executive committee, beating off competition from the United States, Australia, South Korea and Japan. Qatar presented the most technically ambitious plans for a World Cup, using its 30-minute presentation to underline how the tournament could unify a region ravaged by conflict.

Their success in Thursday's vote comes just over a month before they are scheduled to host the Asian Cup finals. Qatar have, as yet, never appeared in a finals, but have come close on a couple of occasions to reaching the tournament through qualifying.