(CNN) -- Russia and Qatar will host soccer's biggest tournament, the FIFA World Cup, for the first time in 2018 and 2022 respectively. Russia headed off 1966 host England and joint presentations from Spain-Portugal and Holland-Belgium in Thursday's vote at FIFA headquarters in Switzerland. Qatar won the right to host the 2022 tournament ahead of bids from the United States, South Korea, Japan and Australia. Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin decided against attending the ceremony in Zurich, but his deputy Igor Shuvalov was present to accept the first successful bid from Eastern Europe. Has FIFA gambled with World Cup decisions?
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Russia to host 2018 World Cup after winning vote by FIFA executive committee
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It headed off England and joint bids from Spain-Portugal and Holland-Belgium
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Qatar will host the 2022 event, beating bids from South Korea, Japan, Australia and U.S.
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Both countries will be hosting football's biggest tournament for the first time
Vladimir Putin
@placeholder later flew to Zurich to address the world's assembled media.
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We will allow all football fans to enter the country without a visa in order to enjoy the tournament and to get to know @placeholder and its history and culture."
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It is very intriguing the tactics used from the @placeholder to secure the bid.
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There was a little bit of surprise -- they could just not believe that @placeholder was called, but there were some very big cheers.
Holland
Russia won nine of the 22 votes in the first round of voting, with Spain-Portugal earning seven, @placeholder-Belgium four and England two.