World Cup Decision

The Football Association today congratulated Russia and Qatar on their successful bids to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018 and 2022 respectively.

FA General Secretary, Alex Horne said: "We are very disappointed that we have been unsuccessful in our bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

"Well done to Russia. They will organise a great World Cup and we will be focused on ensuring that England play a very significant role in 2018 on the pitch.

"Our England 2018 bid team and our supporters in Government deserve immense credit for conducting such a strong campaign. We must also thank out incredibly generous sponsors and the amazing support from our bid cities and ambassadors who helped us build a great technical bid and did so much to help us promote the message.

"Most importantly, thank you to every single football fan, player, coach and referee up and down the country whose passion for the game brought us so close to success.

"We should be very proud of our campaign. We and our partners did everything we possibly could to bring the 2018 World Cup tournament to England - FIFA recognised our outstanding technical bid, the public showed its passion and support with over two million people signing up to our 'Back the Bid' campaign, the English football family from the professional to the grassroots game showed unity of purpose and politicians of all parties fought hard for our bid.

"Today was a disappointment in Zurich but in less than 48 hours the weekend will be upon us. And like every other weekend in England, seven million children and adults will play football while hundreds of thousands will go through the turnstiles. We may still be disappointed but when the whistle blows and the goals fly in we will still be in love with football.

"To have won today would have been an extraordinary boost. But we have much to look forward to. In January, work will start on our national football centre, St George's Park and later this month we will announce a new England sponsor. Week in, week out, we continue to develop and strengthen our nation's favourite game."