The 2022 World Cup host will be Qatar. Voting has concluded and the United States and Australia -- the next closest in the 2022 World Cup odds -- were eliminated. Qatar has been the favorite recently so it's not a major shock that they won. Leading up to the announcement, they were 4/6 favorites while Australia was at 5/2 and the United States at 11/4. The United States odds shot down quickly as the event got closer. They were at 5/2 earlier on Thursday.
Russia will host the 2018 World Cup which means we will have two first-time host sites.
The shocking announcement affirms FIFA President Sepp Blatter's intent to take the world's biggest sporting event to new places. Speaking after the Qatari delegation thanked the executive committee for their support, Blatter spoke of the novelty of having Russia, announced hosts of the 2018 tournament, and Qatar as World Cup sites. Neither have previously hosted the World Cup.
Qatar's proposal was strange to say the least because they are such a small country -- roughly the size of Phoenix, Arizona, as SBNation.com points out. Somehow they became David and beat Goliath for the 2022 World Cup.
After all the work and excitement from the United States, it's all for naught. Congrats to Qatar.