Russia knew World Cup bid results 24 hours earlier: British media

LONDON - The World Cup bidding process in Zurich, the headquarters of FIFA, Thursday night is now branded as a fix as it emerged that Russia knew the result 24 hours before it was announced.

Russia won the rights for the 2018 World Cup while Qatar was chosen for 2022, becoming the third Asian country to host the tournament.

British tabloid The Sun reported that Russia bid chief executive Alexey Sorokin was so confident he boldly told the England team in Zurich Wednesday his country had enough votes in the bag.

“Sorokin clearly knew Russia had enough votes and he told the English that,” the daily quoted a source close to bidding process as saying.

For the 2018 bidding process, England went out in round one with two votes while Russia eased home in round two with 13 votes.

The daily reported that Sorokin’s boast came on the back of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin proclaiming he would not attend the event because of ‘unscrupulous competition’.

England 2018 chief executive, Andy Anson, was also angry.

“We thought we had at least six votes, maybe seven or eight. David Dein, myself, David Cameron, David Beckham and Prince William were looking people in the eye and were asking for their vote and being told ‘Yeah’. I don’t think people like us,” he said.