Pretoria - Russia beat England hands down when they won the bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The announcement was made by FIFA President Joseph Blatter in the world football governing body headquarters in Zurich on Thursday.
While opening the envelope to make the announcement for the 2018 winner, Blatter had a consolation message to the losing nation: "Football is a school where you can learn to lose."
The other countries that were bidding to host the 2018 World Cup finals are England, joint bids by Belgium/Netherlands and Spain/Portugal.
The Arab country, Qatar was announced as the host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. They beat South Korea, Japan and the United States of America.
In April 2001, Qatar had a growing population of approximately 907 229 people, of whom approximately 350 000 were believed to be citizens.
The majority of the estimated 550 000 non-citizens were individuals from South and South East Asian and Arab countries working on temporary employment contracts, and in most cases without accompanying family members.
In Qatar, football is the most popular sport and is closely followed by cricket. The Qatar under-20 national football team finished second in the 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship after a 4-0 defeat to Germany in the final.
The Asian Football Confederation's 2011 AFC Asian Cup finals will be held in Qatar in January 2011. It will be the fifteenth time the tournament will be held, and the second time will be hosted by Qatar.
