Russia saw of the challenge from England, Spain/Portugal & Netherlands/Belgium to win the right to host the 2018 World Cup following an announcement in Zurich today.
Their success was confirmed by FIFA president Sepp Blatter after a 22-member bid vote by the governing body's executive committee.
Russia will therefore host the competition for the first time in their history.
In a surprising outcome, Qatar were named as hosts of the 2022 World Cup beating rival bids from Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States.
Summer temperatures which can soar to above 50 degrees celsius in Qatar and a concern about lack of infrastructure did not deter FIFA from awarding the tournament to the tiny Gulf state.
Handed the World Cup by Blatter, Russian deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov celebrated, saying: 'You have entrusted us with the Fifa World Cup for 2018 and I can promise, we all can promise, you will never regret it. Let us make history together.'
Qatar bid chief Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Thani told the FIFA executive: 'Thank you for backing us and expanding the game. You will be proud of us and you will be proud of the Middle East'
England, who had been favourites to land the 2018 event, apparently received only two votes in the first round from the 22-man voting committee.
After the announcements the FIFA President said: 'We go to new lands. Never has the World Cup been in Russia and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Arabic world have been waiting for a long time so I'm a happy president when we talk about the development of football.'
The voting process took place against a highly charged background after British media outlets made allegations of corruption against a number of FIFA's executive committee members.
The executive committee, reduced to 22 after two were suspended over the allegations, voted in secret. No details of the counts were made available by FIFA but bid member Gary Lineker told Reuters England had gone out in the first round of voting for 2018.
It was the first time FIFA had carried out a vote for two World Cup finals at the same time.
