俄羅斯,卡塔爾獲世界盃主辦權

在經歷過漫長的遊說、陳述、投票和等待之後，2018年和2022年世界盃的舉辦地終於揭曉。北京時間12月2日晚，國際足聯在總部蘇黎世經過投票的方式由22名執委選出了未來兩屆世界盃的舉辦地，俄羅斯獲得2018年世界盃舉辦權，而代表亞洲的卡塔爾獲得2022年世界盃舉辦權。

申辦2018年世界盃的國家和地區包括荷蘭/比利時（聯合申辦）、西班牙/葡萄牙（聯合申辦）、俄羅斯和英格蘭，申辦2022年世界盃的5個國家則包括澳大利亞、日本、韓國、卡塔爾和美國。從之前的各路報道來看，主辦2018年世界盃的熱門主要集中在俄羅斯和英格蘭身上，而2022年世界盃主辦權的爭奪則主要在美國和澳大利亞間展開。最終，俄羅斯勝出使得世界盃得以首次落戶東歐；而卡塔爾則成爲首個舉辦世界盃的中東阿拉伯國家，同時也是迄今爲止世界盃舉辦國中最小的一個國家。

FIFA gave its ultimate recognition to emerging markets on Thursday by awarding the 2018 and 2022 editions of the prestigious and lucrative World Cup soccer finals to Russia and Qatar, both new hosts.

Russia won the right to put on the 2018 World Cup, the first time it will have been staged in Eastern Europe after 10 editions in the western half of the continent.

Qatar, which has never qualified for the World Cup finals, will stage the 2022 tournament, a first both for the Middle East and for an Arab country. It will also be the smallest nation ever to host the World Cup.

Both new hosts are major energy producers and both had planned larger and costlier investment in infrastructure and new stadiums than all their respective rivals.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who announced the winners after a vote of his executive committee in the Swiss financial capital, said: "We go to new lands.

"Never has the World Cup been in Russia and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Arabic world have been waiting for a long time so I'm a happy president when we talk about the development of football."

Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin flew in to Zurich immediately after the winning vote and held a news conference before going on to meet and thank Blatter and FIFA.

"We are honored to win in this tough and fair fight," he told reporters. "Thank you for supporting Russia. Together let us make sure football supports fair play, tolerance, honor."

Putin said he had made the right decision to stay away from Zurich for Russia's final presentation so FIFA executives could make their choice in peace after corruption allegations against some executive committee members in the British media.

"I did this out of respect," he said. "There was unacceptable campaigning that was deployed for the World Cup in 2018. People were accused of corruption. They were accused without any grounds, without any reasons, no justifications."

FIERCE LOBBYING

Soccer's governing body's executive committee voted for the two winning bids after a fierce lobbying campaign which saw world political leaders and top sports personalities gather in Zurich to press their case for one of the biggest prizes in global sport.

Russia defeated the challenge of three other European bidders, England and the joint bids of Netherlands/Belgium and Spain/Portugal.

Qatar took the honors for 2022 over rivals Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States.

They committed in their bid document to FIFA building nine new stadiums and renovating three existing grounds at a cost of around $3 billion.

Qatar bid chairman Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Thani told the FIFA executive: "Thank you for backing us and expanding the game. You will be proud of us and you will be proud of the Middle East."