The United States on Thursday lost its bid to host the 2022 World Cup to Qatar in a stunning rebuff to the country many had considered the front-runner to host the world’s grandest sporting event.
Qatar, which has never qualified for the competition, becomes the first Middle Eastern Arab nation to host the World Cup, and signals FIFA’s desire to engage the Muslim world. Qatar, with only 1.7 million inhabitants, will also become the smallest nation to host a World Cup.
The choice also puts an emphatic capstone on the legacy of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who has taken the Cup around the planet in an effort to broaden the game’s social and political legacy.