Five things Russia and Qatar did right to win World Cup bids

Russia and Qatar were able to set themselves apart enough from the rest of the World Cup bidders to get FIFA’s vote Thursday. Russia will host the tournament in 2018 and Qatar in 2022. Here are five things they did right.

Create or enhance a soccer legacy

Paul White/AP/File
Real Madrid's French player Zinedine Zidane (r.) controls the ball as Osasuna's Cesar Chuchaga challenges during a Spanish league soccer match in Madrid, Spain, Dec. 1, 2001.

FIFA wants to know that, as a result of a selected country’s World Cup, enthusiasm about soccer, both regionally and world-wide, will increase.

Highlighting its existing soccer programs and portraying a Russia World Cup as a vehicle for improved facilities and a national soccer legacy, the Russian bid committee asked FIFA to “support the continued growth of football in a passionate and deserving nation.”

Zinedine Zidane, Algerian-Born France soccer legend and a spokesman for Qatar’s World Cup bid, may have said it best in an advertisement he made for the bid committee, highlighting the challenges he faced as a child and what a World Cup could do for children in the Middle East and their soccer-related dreams.

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