Russia withdraws 2022 World Cup bid
Russia has formally withdrawn its bid to host the 2022 World Cup, choosing to focus solely on its bid to host the competition in 2018.
The bid committee overseeing the Russian proposal announced that it would not continue with the 2022 bid on Friday, 22 October.
"We hereby have the pleasure to inform you that the Russian Bid Committee and the Russian Football Union as a FIFA member association have made a decision to no longer pursue our bid for the 2022 tournament and to concentrate our efforts on the 2018 FIFA
World Cup. We therefore formally withdraw our bid for the 2022 competition," Vitaly Mutko, head of the Committee and Sports minister of Russia, said in a statement.
The withdrawal was expected, as FIFA regulations stipulate that consecutive World Cup tournaments cannot be held on the same continent.
With European bids from the Netherlands/Belgium, Spain/Portugal and England as the only ones still contending to host the 2018 event, Russia's 2022 bid could not have succeeded.
"We hope to be entrusted with the hosting of FIFA's flagship event and are ready to inspire the global football family in 2018," Mutko, whose campaign has been tainted by racist attacks on foreign players by Russian football fans.
England and Russia the favourites for 2018 World Cup
As the only single countries left in contention to host the 2018 tournament, England and Russia have been held as favourites to bring the World Cup back to Europe. The last time it was hosted on the continent was in 2006, with Germany as host.
Russia's withdrawal leaves bids from the United States, Japan, Australia, South Korea and Qatar in contention for the 2022 World Cup.
The host countries for both events will be announced simultaneously by FIFA on 2 December after a bidding round that has suffered from recent allegations of vote fixing.
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