Russia pulls out of 2022 World Cup bid
Reuters - Friday 22 October 2010, 15:42
MOSCOW - Russia officially pulled out of
the race to host the 2022 World Cup finals on Friday, with the
aim of solely concentrating on their bid for 2018.
"Russia is setting its sights exclusively on being awarded
the right to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup and has formally
withdrawn its bid for the 2022 edition of the world's biggest
and most important single sports event," the Russian bid
committee said in a statement.
"We hope to be entrusted with the hosting of FIFA's flagship
event and are ready to inspire the global football family in
2018," the statement quoted Russia's bid chairman and the
country's Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko as saying.
Russia and England are bidding to stage the 2018 World Cup
along with joint bids from Spain/Portugal and
Belgium/Netherlands while Japan, South Korea, Qatar, United
States and Australia are candidates for 2022.
Last week, England officially withdrew from bidding for the
2022 tournament after the United States had pulled out of the
running for the 2018 event, making certain it would be held in
Europe. FIFA rules prohibit successive World Cups being staged
on the same continent.
Football's governing body is due to announce the winning bids
in Zurich on December 2.
The bidding process has been overshadowed by allegations of
vote-selling, with two members of FIFA's executive committee,
Amos Adamu of Nigeria and Reynald Temarii of Tahiti, being
provisionally suspended for 30 days.