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在经历过漫长的游说、陈述、投票和等待之后，2018年和2022年世界杯的举办地终于揭晓。北京时间12月2日晚，国际足联在总部苏黎世经过投票的方式由22名执委选出了未来两届世界杯的举办地，俄罗斯获得2018年世界杯举办权，而代表亚洲的卡塔尔获得2022年世界杯举办权。
申办2018年世界杯的国家和地区包括荷兰/比利时（联合申办）、西班牙/葡萄牙（联合申办）、俄罗斯和英格兰，申办2022年世界杯的5个国家则包括澳大利亚、日本、韩国、卡塔尔和美国。从之前的各路报道来看，主办2018年世界杯的热门主要集中在俄罗斯和英格兰身上，而2022年世界杯主办权的争夺则主要在美国和澳大利亚间展开。最终，俄罗斯胜出使得世界杯得以首次落户东欧；而卡塔尔则成为首个举办世界杯的中东阿拉伯国家，同时也是迄今为止世界杯举办国中最小的一个国家。
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Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani (left), FIFA President Joseph Sepp Blatter (center) and Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov pose with the World Cup following the announcement that Russia and Qatar will host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups on Thursday at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich. (Agencies) |
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."
相关阅读
(Agencies)
（中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑）
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