Shortly afterwards, Blatter went on to announce the second choice, in the first double decision on World Cup venues in FIFA's history.Australia's disappointment in losing out to Qatar for the right to host the 2022 World Cup has turned to devastation with the revelation that the team from Down Under received just one vote from the FIFA executive committee and was the first nation eliminated.
"The winner to organize the 2022 World Cup is Qatar," he said.
"I have to make big, big compliments to all the bidders … for the big job they have done and for the messages they have delivered," Blatter said in his address.
"In football, we learn to win, and that's easy. But in football, we also learn to lose, and that's not so easy."
A thinned-out panel of 22 FIFA executive committee members - with two absentees due to recent corruption allegations - reached the decision at the organization's headquarters in Zurich on Thursday afternoon.The Russian success came at the expense of joint bids from Spain and Portugal and from Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as a push for the tournament from England.
Russia beat competition from England, Spain-Portugal and Belgium-Netherlands.
The Eastern European country called on FIFA to help shape the country's future, with bid officials saying the
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who spearheaded the country's early push for the competition, did not attend the ceremony in Zurich. He said he was confident his country would win anyway, and that he didn't want to put additional pressure on FIFA members, accusing rivals England of launching a "smear campaign" against soccer's governing body.
Putin was apparently alluding to an investigative journalism feature on corruption within the organization, aired on the BBC days before the decision.
After the announcement, Putin said he would fly to Zurich on Thursday night to thank FIFA and its executive committee.
Russia, like fellow victors Qatar, has never hosted a World Cup before. The country is something of a new frontier for world football. Its national team's success in reaching the semi-final of the 2008 European Championships - stewarded by international coaching guru Guus Hiddink - helped catapult the country onto the soccer radar. However, the side failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
However an outbreak of crowd trouble at an English League Cup match between Birmingham and Aston Villa late Wednesday embarrassed England's bid.
