There Will Be No World Cup 2022 in Kansas City

FIFA today announced the hosts for World Cup 2018 and 2022. Russia was awarded the 2018 games in a bit of an upset. England was seen as the favorite in the race that also included joint bids from Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands. The 2022 World Cup will be held in Qatar. Qatar beat out the United States, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

England's chances were hurt by a recent investigation by the BBC into possible corruption within FIFA regarding the bidding process (bribes). Russia also was considered the favorite venue of FIFA President Sepp Blatter who favors new locations to add to his legacy. FIFA, like many international organizations (think UN), don't always use a great amount of logic in their decision making processes, lots of politics and favor trading.

Qatar's award of the 2022 World Cup makes little sense. It is a tiny country and currently has only one stadium anywhere near the quality of a World Cup venue. Their Soccer team is not good (they would gain an automatic bid the Cup for being the host country), temperatures average way over 100 degrees in the summer, not to mention the terrorism is real threat in a Middle East country holding a high profile event. Alcohol is illegal, though they say they will have designated areas during the event where it will be sold, and their society will have to relax other rules that pertain to public displays of affection, men and women socializing together, etc.

The US will likely bid for the 2026 World Cup. Hopefully, Kansas City will be in those plans, too.

THE WORLD CUP IN KANSAS CITY!

Arrowhead Stadium could be the site for four games in the United States if wins its bid to host the world's biggest soccer even in 2018. Kansas City is now one of the 27 host city finalists.

Nine individual nations registered their intention to bid with FIFA by the February 2009 deadline: Australia, England, Indonesia, Japan, Qutar, Mexico, Russia, South korea, and the United States.

In October 2007, FIFA ended the continental rotation policy. Instead the last two tournament host confederations are ineligible, leaving Africa ineligible for 2018 and South America ineligible for both 2018 and 2022. Other factors in the selection process include the number of suitable stadia, and their location across candidate nations. Due to the number of bids received by FIFA, this World Cup is expected to be the most hotly contested bid ever, mainly due to the revision in FIFA's rotation policy.

The bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 began in January 2009. These will be the 21st and 22nd editions of theFIFA World Cup. The executive committee of FIFA will announce their decision on the two editions in December 2010.