After missing out on Euro 2012, the FIGC decided to put in a bid for Euro 2016, the first European Championship that will have 24 teams instead of the usual 16. The bid included new stadiums in many cities across Italy (and some simply being renovated) and many saw Italy hosting Euro 2016 as the only way we'd see some new stadiums around the peninsula.

PARIS, France - FIFA president Sepp Blatter says Qatar's neighboring countries could host games at the 2022 World Cup. Qatar was designated the 2022 World Cup last week, despite concerns that the intense heat poses a serious health risk if the tournament is played in summer. In an interview with sports daily L'Equipe on Thursday, [.

WASHINGTON, DC — President Barack Obama says FIFA made the "wrong decision" in awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar over the United States. The U.S. Soccer Federation spent millions of dollars on its bid. Former President Bill Clinton was highly involved in the process and participated in the closing presentation.

There are many reasons as to why England were not chosen to host the 2018 World Cup, but I have picked out 8 which seem to be the most potent....

1. Football hooliganism

England fans, although they have been better in recent years, still hold this stigma as no-good thugs.

It is, it seems, a competitive business trying to persuade FIFA to bestow their munificence upon a nation and condescend to allow them to host a World Cup.That, presumably, is why each country rolls out a host of big celebrity names to 'back' their bids. What this means is that the FIFA delegates get to meet the aforementioned celebrities on one of their many all-expenses paid jollies.

Megabucks 'City' are on a buying spree again as they prepare a £100million bid for Spaniard Fernando Torres this summer. If the transfer takes place then it would even beat the eye-opening bid of £80million of Ronaldo from United to Real Madrid. Regarded as a star forward, the Liverpool player will earn a £200,000 a week [.

The new Fulham manager Mark Hughes has admitted that Arsenal made a bid to sign Mark Schwarzer at the end of last season, but they haven't had any increased bids since then. The ex-Man Utd star understands that Schwarzer would find it hard to turn down a chance to play in the Champions League, but [.

While Arsenal fans the world over believed that Arsene Wenger was working frantically to get a new goalkeeper for his team, and Mark Schwarzer was just inches away from arriving at the Emirates, it seems that there was no new talks with Fulham on deadline day. There were numerous reports that Arsenal had put in an [.

These moves have been unofficial for some time with FIFA reportedly just dropping them from consideration and pushing the 2018 World Cup to Europe, but today they've been made official probably with some heavy pushing from FIFA.

Nothing's really changed but the names on the bid committee: World Cup 2018 has always been heading to Europe, while 2022 will go either Asia (including Australia) or the US.

CAIRO, Egypt The Democratic Republic of Congo have withdrawn their bid to host the 2015 or 2017 African Nations Cups, leaving just Morocco and South Africa in the running, the Confederation of African Football said on Tuesday. African football's governing body will decide in January on the outcome of the bids but with just [.

BIRMINGHAM, England — Birmingham fans ran onto the field and threw flares at rival supporters following Wednesday's League Cup quarterfinal win over Aston Villa in violent scenes, just a day before FIFA's executive committee votes on whether to award England the right to host the 2018 World Cup. Villa supporters responded by ripping up seats [.

ZURICH, Switzerland The frenzied race for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups entered the home straight Wednesday as rival bids made final presentations on the eve of the scandal-tainted vote. The five countries battling for the 2022 football extravaganza – Australia, the United States, South Korea, Japan and Qatar – showcased their bids in [.

Part two of my eight reasons for England's failure to win the World Cup bid, read part one here...

5. Football is already massively followed

FIFA's motto is: For the Game, For the World – which says a lot about what they want to achieve as a governing body.