Election of the organizers of the World Cup 2018 and 2022

• On March 18, 2009, FIFA announced that 9 applications were accepted for hosting the 2018/2022 championships, which were submitted by: Australia , England , Indonesia , Mexico , Russia ^[1] , USA , Japan , Portugal + Spain (joint application), Belgium + Netherlands (joint application). Only South Korea and Qatar announced their participation in the election of the host of the 2022 World Cup.
• In accordance with the current regulation of FIFA, a championship cannot be held in a country from the same confederation where one of the two previous championships was held ^[2] . Therefore, the right to host the 2018 championship could not be given to a member of the African Confederation of Football or CONMEBOL , and the championship of 2022 to a member of CONMEBOL or a member of the confederation, which includes the organizer of the 2018 championship.
• The organizers were required to send the application book by May 14, 2010 to FIFA.

Voting conditions

December 2, 2010 was the final vote in Zurich. Initially, 24 members of the FIFA executive committee were to participate in the elections, but two were removed from their posts, and therefore only 22 people took part in the vote.

To win, it was necessary that one of the applications received more than half of the votes (minimum 13). In the absence of this condition, the application with the least number of votes is eliminated. In the second round, the conditions are the same. In the third round (if it comes to it) the application with a large number of votes will win. In the event of a tie, the decision will be made by the FIFA President.

It is important that, unlike the continental confederations, representatives of England, Russia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal have the right to vote for their applications. ^[3]

FIFA Executive Committee Members

•   Joseph Blatter , FIFA President
•   Julio Grondona , President of the Argentine Football Association and Chairman of the FIFA Finance Committee
•   Issa Hayattu , FIFA Vice President and President of the African Confederation of Football
•   Chun Mon Joon , FIFA Vice President, President of the South Korea Football Association and Member of Parliament of South Korea
•   Jack Warner , President of CONCACAF
•   Angel Maria Villar Llona , FIFA Vice President, President of the Spanish Football Federation and Chairman of the FIFA Legal and Judicial Committees
•   Michel Platini , FIFA Vice President and UEFA President
•   Reynald Temari , FIFA Vice President, OFC President and FIFA Technical Committee President ^[4]
•   Jeff Thompson , vice president of FIFA and UEFA , head of the English bid for the 2018 World Cup
•   Michel d'Ug , Honorary President of the Belgian Football Federation , President of the Club Brugge , President of the FIFA Medical Committee
•   Ricardo Teixeira , President , Brazil Confederation of Football
•   Mohammed Bin Hammam , AFC President
•   Senes Erzik , UEFA First Vice President, Honorary President of the Turkish Football Federation
•   Chuck Blazer , CONCACAF Secretary General
•   Voravi Makudi , Secretary General of the Thai Football Association
•   Nicholas Leos , President of CONMEBOL
•   Junji Ogura , Senior Vice President, Japan Football Federation
•   Amos Adamu , Director of Sports Development, Nigeria ^[5]
•   Marios Lefkaritis , Elected Treasurer of the UEFA Executive Committee, Honorary President of the Cyprus Football Federation
•   Jacques Anouma , President of the Football Federation of Côte d'Ivoire
•   Franz Beckenbauer , Ambassador of the German Football Union , Chairman of the FIFA Football Committee
•   Rafael Salghero , President of the FIFA Appeals Committee, Vice President of CONCACAF
•   Hani Abo Rida , President, FIFA Stadium and Security Committee
•   Vitaly Mutko , Minister of Sport, Tourism and Youth Policy of the Russian Federation

2018 FIFA World Cup

2022 FIFA World Cup

• In September 2005, the Football Association of England proposed preparing an application for the 2018 World Cup ^[6] . Previously, the British fought for the 2006 World Championship, but lost in the first round and dropped out of the fight.
• In October 2007, the FAA's decision was confirmed, and preparation of the England bid book began. The cost of possible costs for both the application and the championship in the event of victory in the race would be from 15 to 18 million pounds ^[6] .
• On February 24, 2008, Australia announced that it was applying for the 2018 World Cup, as confirmed by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. ^[7]
• On December 23, 2008, Spain proposed its candidacy for the World Cup together with Portugal ^[8] .
• On January 10, 2009, Portugal confirmed its participation with Spain in the struggle for the adoption of the world championship ^[9] .
• January 28, 2009, Indonesia suddenly announced its desire to host the World Cup. This was her sixth application in a row ^[10] . On the same day, the United States joined the fight for World Championships, submitting applications for both 2018 and 2022 ^[11] .
• On May 5, 2009, Russia officially entered the fight for the 2018 World Cup. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin officially ordered Vitaly Mutko to prepare an application for the World Cup ^[12] .
• On May 18, 2009, an application from England was formally submitted. ^[13] At the Wembley Stadium , FAA representatives gave a speech about the bid and asked football fans to support the bid by England ^[6] . The slogan of the application “England united - the world invited” is being formed (from English - “United England invites the world”).
• On May 31, 2009, the Secretary-General of the Mexican Football Federation, Decio de Maria, announced that the Mexicans would compete for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup ^[14] .
• On August 5, 2009, Russia announced the final list of cities for hosting World Cup matches ^[15] .
• In August 2009, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, Son Zhu Han, was appointed head of the Korean bid for the 2022 World Cup. ^[16]
• On September 30, 2009, the Mexican Federation withdrew its application. According to the online edition of Goal.com, the application of this country was withdrawn for economic reasons ^[17] .
• In November 2009, Qatar entered the fight for the 2022 World Cup ^[18] , calling the holding of such a tournament a chance for rapprochement between the West and the Arab world ^[19] .
• On December 6, 2009, the relative formation of applications for each tournament began: in Japan, there was talk of moving to a fight only for the 2022 World Cup ^[20] .
• On December 7, 2009, the final list of cities that will host the World Cup if successful ^{[6] [21]} was compiled in England.
• On December 9, 2009, the Australian Football League Commission opposed Australia’s adoption of the World Cup, as teams would be forced to play in small arenas during the World Cup ^[22] .
• On February 16, 2010, a scandal broke out in the Spanish-Portuguese bid committee: the Portuguese, as the initiators of the bid, threatened to withdraw it if more cities in Portugal were not provided for matches ^[23] .
• On March 13, 2010, the list of cities for accepting World Cup matches was announced in the United States ^[24] .
• On March 19, 2010, FIFA excluded Indonesia from the list of candidates due to a lack of support from the government ^[25] .
• On April 20, 2010, the Dutch government confirmed the candidacy of this country in tandem with Belgium for the 2018 World Cup ^[26] .
• On May 4, 2010, Japan refused the application for hosting the 2018 World Cup, continuing to claim the World Cup 2022 ^[27] .
• On May 14, 2010, Russia sent a bid book to FIFA ^[28] .
• On May 15, 2010, there were unjustified and unfounded rumors that Ukraine was ready to join the Russian application, although the application book had already been sent the day before ^[29] .
• On May 16, 2010, the head of the English application, Lord David Trisman, announced a possible conspiracy of Russia and Spain: Russia will allegedly put pressure on the 2010 World Cup referees in favor of Spain, and in exchange for this, the Spaniards will withdraw their application. ^[30] . A scandal erupted as a result of which Trisman was fired ^[31] . Rumors were denied, and the Football Association of England apologized to the football federations of Russia and Spain. ^[32] Spain itself could not withdraw the application, since Portugal was the initiator of the 2018 World Cup project in two countries. ^[33] From the point of view of some experts (in particular, the newly elected head of the English application Jeff Thompson) ^[34] , this scandal caused the defeat of England. It is noteworthy that Trisman's assumptions regarding the winner of the 2018 race and the World Cup in South Africa were justified.
• On May 17, 2010, RFU President Sergei Fursenko announced at the RFU conference in Rostov-on-Don a list of cities for the adoption of the World Cup ^[35] .
• On June 10, 2010, Australia decided to withdraw its candidacy for the 2018 World Cup and focus on preparing for the 2022 World Cup. ^[36]
• On June 15, 2010, South Africa hosted the presentation of applications for the 2018 World Cup and the 2022 World Cup. Two volumes of the application book were stolen from the Russian side, and delegations from Belgium and the Netherlands suffered the same. ^[37] Perpetrators still not found.
• On June 30, 2010, it became known that the Australian delegation was trying to bribe FIFA officials in exchange for supporting the bid for the 2022 World Cup. ^[38] FIFA investigated the incident, but Australia was not disqualified.
• On August 11, 2010, director Ruby Wenwright (half English, half American) announced that a special film would be shot in support of the Russian bid. According to him, the film will be released in two languages ​​- English and Russian ^[39] .
• From August 16 to August 18, 2010, the FIFA delegation paid a visit to Russia. FIFA representatives visited four Russian cities: Moscow , St. Petersburg , Kazan and Sochi . They examined airports, hotels, stadiums and the transport infrastructure of cities. Among the sites visited were stadiums on Krestovsky Island (St. Petersburg), Central (Kazan) and Olympic (Sochi). ^[40]
• On September 4, 2010, representatives of Nigeria called on FIFA not to award Russia any of the world championships for insulting Peter Odemvingie by Moscow Lokomotiv fans ^[41] , but FIFA said they had no right to interfere in the affairs of the Russian championship. Nigeria said it would not vote for Russia.
• On September 29, 2010, England announced that in the event of withdrawing the US candidate for the 2018 World Cup, it was ready to abandon the race for the 2022 World Cup ^[42] .
• October 1, 2010 World Football Insider published a rating of applications. The rating was calculated on 10 indicators, including stadiums, infrastructure, support for applications from the government and the general population, and so on (each indicator was evaluated on a 10-point scale). At that time, England was unconditionally leading with 68 points out of 100, but Russia reduced the lead to a minimum by gaining 5 and receiving a total of 67 points. ^[43] The USA came in third place (66 points), and Qatar in fourth place (65 points).
• On October 15, 2010, the United States withdrew the application for hosting the 2018 World Cup in favor of the 2020 World Cup ^[44] . Thus, only European countries remained at the 2018 World Cup, which means that the 2018 World Cup will be held in Europe, and the 2022 World Cup in Asia or North America.
• On October 17, 2010, a scandal erupted in FIFA over the fact that the representative of Nigeria, Amos Adam and the president of the OFK, the delegate from Tahiti, Reynald Teymari, cast their votes in exchange for a different amount of money. The corruption case took place in mid-November.
• On October 21 and 22, 2010, there were rumors about a conspiracy of representatives of the Qatar application and the Spain-Portugal double application, which were never confirmed.
• October 23, 2010, Russia officially refused the application for the World Cup-2022. According to Alexei Sorokin, in the event of the victory of any other European country in the race, Russia will not be able to qualify for the World Cup, since according to FIFA rules it is forbidden to conduct World Cup twice in a row on one continent ^[45] .
• On October 27, 2010, Alexey Sorokin, in an interview with Western publications, stated that it was doubtful that England would be able to resolve security problems if it received the right to the 2018 World Cup. English publications regarded his statements as insults ^[46] , which is prohibited by FIFA. England threatened to file a complaint, but on October 30, Vitaliy Mutko, on behalf of the RFU, apologized to the Football Federation of England, and the British withdrew their complaint ^[47] .
• On October 30 and 31, 2010, England accused Russia of trying to bribe the delegate of Nigeria, Amos Amadou, temporarily suspended from the vote. ^[48] The representative of Nigeria himself rejected these allegations, and the Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko called these accusations “stupid” ^[49] .
• On November 9, 2010, an FAA spokesman stated that England’s application was allegedly disqualified by decision of FIFA. Unlawful interference by the media in the affairs of FIFA and many articles on corruption were cited as a possible reason for this decision. ^[50] . The information turned out to be false, however, according to Anzor Kavazashvili, the chances of England seriously fell. ^[51]
• On November 10, 2010, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced his support for the British bid and promised to arrive in Zurich on election day. ^[52]
• On November 17, 2010, FIFA prepared a preliminary technical report on the chances of applications, as well as identified the pros and cons of applications ^[53] .
• On November 18, 2010, Reynald Temari and Amos Adamu , accused of corruption, were officially removed from the vote. ^[54]
• On November 20, 2010, FIFA demanded that England transfer the Wimbledon tennis tournament in 2018 to other dates, since according to FIFA regulations during the World Cup in the country other major competitions should not be held in parallel ^[55] .
• On November 24, 2010, CONMEBOL representatives in the FIFA Executive Committee officially announced support for the double application of Spain and Portugal. This was the first official confirmation of the support of one of the applications for the World Cups 2018 and 2022 ^[56]
• On December 2, 2010, the hostesses of the World Championships were announced in Zurich. The right to the 2018 World Cup went to Russia, and its application won in the second round. ^[57] Qatar became the host of the 2022 World Cup, who won the USA only in the last (4th) round ^[58]

Russia

• Volgograd
• Yekaterinburg
• Kazan
• Kaliningrad
• Krasnodar
• Moscow
• Nizhny Novgorod
• Rostov-on-Don
• St. Petersburg
• Samara
• Saransk
• Sochi
• Yaroslavl

England

• Birmingham
• Bristol
• Leeds
• Liverpool
• London
• Manchester
• Milton Keynes
• Nottingham
• Newcastle upon Tyne
• Plymouth
• Sunderland
• Sheffield

USA

• New York
• Los Angeles
• Miami
• Dallas
• Boston
• Atlanta
• Baltimore
• Denver
• Houston
• Indianapolis
• Kansas city
• Nashville
• Philadelphia
• Phoenix
• San diego
• Seattle
• Tampa
• Washington

South Korea

• Seoul
• Busan
• Incheon
• Daegu
• Daejeon
• Gwangju
• Ulsan
• Suwon
• Koyan
• Jeonju
• Cheonan
• Jeju

Australia

• Melbourne
• Sydney
• Perth
• Adelaide
• Brisbane
• Newcastle
• Townsville
• Canberra
• Gold Coast
• Blacktown
• Geelong

Japan

• Yokohama
• Tokyo
• Saitama
• Fukuroi
• Osaka
• Oita
• Niigata
• Kashima
• Kobe
• Sapporo

Belgium / Netherlands

Belgium :

• Brussels
• Genk
• Liege
• Gent
• Bruges
• Charleroi

Netherlands :

• Amsterdam
• Eindhoven
• Rotterdam
• Enschede
• Heerenveen

Portugal / Spain

Spain :

• Madrid
• Barcelona
• Valencia
• Seville
• Bilbao
• Zaragoza
• Badajoz
• Santander
• Malaga
• A Coruña
• San sebastian
• Valladolid
• Vigo
• Murcia
• Alicante
• Gijon
• Elche
• Girona
• Oviedo
• Cornella de Llobregat
• Salamanca

Portugal :

• Lisbon
• Porto
• Braga
• Faro

Russia ^[59]

•   Alexey Sorokin (application chapter) ^[60]
•   Alexey Smertin (application ambassador) ^[61]
•   Andrey Arshavin (application ambassador) ^{[62] [63]}
•   Vladimir Putin ^[64]
•   Igor Akinfeev ^[63]
•   Roman Pavlyuchenko ^[63]
•   Sergey Semak ^[65]
•   Yuri Zhirkov ^[63]
•   Igor Shuvalov ^[66]
•   Roman Abramovich (possible sponsor of the application) ^[67]
•   Vyacheslav Koloskov ^[68]
•   Mikhail Shats
•   Camille Larin (actor, member of the Quartet I comic group) ^[69]
•   Alexander Dzhordzhadze (Director for Strategic Planning)
•   Denis Kolodin ^[70]
•   Nikita Simonyan (application ambassador) ^[71]
•   Rinat Dasayev (application ambassador) ^[72]
•   Yuri Belous ^[73]
•   Dmitry Alenichev ^{[74] [75]}
•   Sergey Pryadkin ^[76]
•   Arkady Dvorkovich ^[77]
•   Sergey Zuev ^[78]
•   Victor Onopko ^[79]
•   George Boos ^[80]
•   Dmitry Medvedev ^[81]
•   Vitaliy Mutko ^[82]
•   Sergey Fursenko ^[83]
•   Yuri Luzhkov
•   German Tkachenko
•   Elena Isinbaeva ^[84]
•   Anna Netrebko
•   Cyrus Radledge (Head of the Football Commission)
•   Bob Orsborn (John Terry's first coach)
•   Freddy Bobich ^[85]
•   Jürgen Grabowski ^[86]
•   Margarita Louis-Dreyfus (owner of FC Marseille ) ^[87]
•   Sabri Lamouchi ^[88]
•   Luciano Spalletti ^[89]
•   Bert van Lingen (assistant coach of the Russian national team) ^[90]
•   Dick Lawyer ^[91]
•   Michel d'Ug (Head of the UEFA Medical Commission)
•   Clyde Tuggle (President of The Coca-Cola Company East European Branch) ^[92]
•   Zico ^[93] (also supports Japan's bid)
•   Aiden McGeady ^[94]
•   Macbeth Sibaya ^[95]

England ^[96]

•   Prince William (application ambassador) ^[97]
•   David Beckham (application ambassador)
•   Jeffrey Thomson (application chapter)
•   John Terry (application ambassador)
•   Gary Lineker
•   Daniel Craig
•   Noel Gallagher
•   Jenson button
•   Lewis Hamilton
•   Rebecca Edlington
•   Ray Winston
•   Stephen Fry
•   Chris Wolstenholm
•   Serge Pizzorno
•   Phil Taylor
•   Amanda Holden
•   Alan Shearer
•   Rupert Grint
•   Stuart Pierce
•   Adrian Chiles
•   David Cameron
•   /   Frankie Dettori
•   /   John Barnes ^[98]
•   Hope Powell
•   Osvaldo Ardiles
•   Michael Essien
•   Michael Ballack
•   Fabio Capello
•   Gianfranco Zola
•   Nwanquo Kanu
•   Kenwine Jones
•   Arsene Wenger
•   Alex Ferguson
•   Lucas Radebe

Australia

•   /   Nicole Kidman
•   Ian Thorpe
•   Mark Webber
•   El MacPherson
•   Hugh Jackman
•   Brett Emerton
•   Tim Cahill
•   Reese Williams
•   Robbie Fowler

USA

•   Bill clinton
•   Henry Kissinger
•   Michael Rubens Bloomberg
•   Spike lee
•   Landon Donovan
•   Mia hamm
•   /   Arnold Schwarzenegger
•   /   Oscar De La Hoya

Belgium / Netherlands

•   Yves Leterm
•   Justin Henin
•   Jean-Marie Pfaff
•   Enzo Shifo
•   Alan Courtois (chapter of the Belgian application) ^[99]
•   Ruud Gullit ^[99]
•   Johan Cruyff
•   Guus Hiddink (bid ambassador, also supports South Korea) ^[100]
•   Harry Been (CEO of the Brew Committee) ^[99]
•   Christian Karambyo ^[99]

South Korea

•   Guus Hiddink (ambassador applications, also supports the Netherlands)
•   Park Chi Song (application ambassador)

Qatar

•   Ronald de Boer (application ambassador)
•   Zinedine Zidane (application ambassador) ^[101]
•   Bora Milutinovich (application ambassador) ^[102]

Japan

•   Hidetoshi Nakata (application ambassador)
•   Keisuke Honda (application ambassador)
•   Alberto Zaccheroni (application ambassador)
•   Zico (also supports the application of Russia)

Spain / Portugal ^[103]

•   Raul Gonzalez (application ambassador)
•   Fernando Hierro (application ambassador) ^[104]
•   Xavi
•   Fernando Torres
•   Iker Casillas (application ambassador) ^[104]
•   Vicente del Bosque ^[104]
•   Luis Figo (application ambassador) ^[104]
•   Deco (application ambassador)
•   Nuno Gomes
•   Cristiano Ronaldo (application ambassador) ^[104]
•   Eusebio ^[104]
•   Paulo Bento ^[104]

The British newspapers came out the next day with devastating articles that accused FIFA of conducting dishonest struggle and corruption, and also criticized the choice of host countries. The press was also indignant at why England had flown out in the very first round of voting ^[105] . The English bid committee itself accused the press of interfering in the course of the election campaign, which led to the undermining of trust by FIFA and the defeat of the application ^[106] .

• Projects of Russian stadiums for the 2018 World Cup