Russia has officially pulled out of the race to host the 2022 football World Cup finals, with the aim of solely concentrating on their bid for 2018.
Russia and England are bidding to stage the 2018 World Cup along with joint bids from Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands while Japan, South Korea, Qatar, United States and Australia are candidates for 2022.
Last week, England officially withdrew from bidding for the 2022 tournament after the United States had pulled out of the running for the 2018 event, making certain it would be held in Europe. FIFA rules prohibit successive World Cups being staged on the same continent.
The winning bids are due to be announced in Zurich on December 2nd.
The bidding process has been overshadowed by allegations of vote-selling, with two members of FIFA's executive committee, Amos Adamu of Nigeria and Reynald Temarii of Tahiti, being provisionally suspended for 30 days.
