New FIFA President says World Cups in Russia and Qatar are staying put

There was some hope that with the election of Gianni Infantino as the new FIFA President that the World Cups in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022 would move to new sites. But reality has set in and Infantino has announced that the hosts will not change and FIFA is forging ahead with the planning for both events.

Russia and Qatar were selected in a controversial vote in 2010 with the United States vying to host in 2022. But after Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup, there were allegations of corruption and bribes to buy votes. Investigations in both Switzerland and the United States have led to arrests, indictments and the ouster of former FIFA head Sepp Blatter who’s serving a multi-year suspension.

Last year, FIFA decided to move the 2022 World Cup to a November-December schedule instead of a June-July schedule due to Qatar’s extremely hot summer.

The decision affects Fox and Telemundo as both networks won the U.S. English and Spanish language rights over incumbents ESPN and Univision back in 2011. With Russia and Qatar staying as hosts, both networks will go ahead with their plans to broadcast the matches from non-U.S. friendly time zones.

The 2014 World Cup in Brazil on ESPN/ABC led to record ratings as did the Women’s World Cup in Canada on Fox/FS1/FS2 as both events were in the same time zones as the U.S.

Infantino visited the FIFA offices on Monday as the first time as organization president and confirmed that the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will go ahead as planned. So any hope of seeing the sites moved are out the window. And 2026 remains as the target year for U.S. Soccer to have the World Cup back in America.

[Sky Sports]