World Cup 4

Process
This was the first season with the Official Process. No bid from Oceania and East region was accepted as Japan was the most recent to host.

Original Bidders

 * England-Ireland EW (London, Dublin, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Belfast, Bradford, Liverpool)
 * France-Spain EW (Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Valencia, Nice)
 * Germany-Netherlands EW (Dusseldorf, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Rotterdam, Frankfurt, Cologne, Hamburg)
 * Russia EE (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Samara, Omsk)
 * Turkey EE (Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa, Adana, Mersin, Konya, Gaziantep)
 * Italy-Greece EE (Milan, Rome, Athens, Naples, Turin, Bologna, Thessaloniki, Florence)
 * Colombia-Venezuela SA (Bogota, Caracas, Medellin, Maracaibo, Baranquilla, Velncia, Cali, Cartagena)
 * Brazil SA (Rio De Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Porto Allegre, Salvador, Fortaleza)
 * Argentina-Bolivia SA (Buenos Aires, La Paz, Cordoba, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Rosario, Mendoza, La Plata, Satla)
 * Mexico NA (Mexico City, Guadalajara, Puebla, Ciudad Juarez, Monterrey, Tijuana, Leon, Toluca)
 * USA NA (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Boston, Washington, Seattle, Denver)
 * Nigeria AN (Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja, Benin City, Kano, Kaduna, Zaria, Port Harcourt)
 * South Africa AS (Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Rustenburg, Bloemfontein, Polokwane)
 * Democratic Republic of the Congo-Angola AS (Kinshasa, Luanda, Huambo, Lubumbashi, Mbuji-Mayi, Cabinda, Tshikapa, Kananga)
 * Iraq-Syria ME (Baghdad, Damascus, Mosul, Erbil, Aleppo, Basra, Kirkuk, Ar-Raqqah)
 * Egypt-Saudi Arabia ME (Cairo, Mecca, Medina, Alexandria, Riyadh, Jeddah, Giza, Suez)
 * Iran CA (Tehran, Isfahan, Mashaid, Tabriz, Shiraz, Qom, Karaj, Ahvaz)
 * India CA (Mumbai, New Delhi, Calcutta, Hyerabad, Chennai, Bangaluru, Pune, Jaipur)
 * Pakistan CA (Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Multan, Hyerabad, Gujranwala, Peshawar)
 * Indonesia SC (Jakarta, Bandung, Medan, Surabaya, Makassar, Semarang, Palembang, Yogyakarta)
 * Bangladesh-Myanmar SC (Dhaka, Yangon, Mandalay, Naypyidaw, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshasi, Gazipur)
 * China SC (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Nanjing, Wuhan, Zhengzhou, Tianjin)
 * Vietnam-Malaysia SC (Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, Hanoi, Johor Bahru, Penang, Haiphong, Can Tho, Ipoh)

Short List

 * Germany-Netherlands EW (Dusseldorf, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Rotterdam, Frankfurt, Cologne, Hamburg)
 * Italy-Greece EE (Milan, Rome, Athens, Naples, Turin, Bologna, Thessaloniki, Florence)
 * Colombia-Venezuela SA (Bogota, Caracas, Medellin, Maracaibo, Baranquilla, Velncia, Cali, Cartagena)
 * Mexico NA (Mexico City, Guadalajara, Puebla, Ciudad Juarez, Monterrey, Tijuana, Leon, Toluca)
 * Nigeria AN (Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja, Benin City, Kano, Kaduna, Zaria, Port Harcourt)
 * Democratic Republic of the Congo-Angola AS (Kinshasa, Luanda, Huambo, Lubumbashi, Mbuji-Mayi, Cabinda, Tshikapa, Kananga)
 * Egypt-Saudi Arabia ME (Cairo, Mecca, Medina, Alexandria, Riyadh, Jeddah, Giza, Suez)
 * Iran CA (Tehran, Isfahan, Mashaid, Tabriz, Shiraz, Qom, Karaj, Ahvaz)
 * China SC (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Nanjing, Wuhan, Zhengzhou, Tianjin)

The Hosts
In the Closest vote ever, the top 4 bids finished within 4 points of each other, and no bid received three first place votes. This was because six of the countries were considered great options for hosting the World Cup. However, by one point, Egypt-Saudi Arabia beat out Nigeria and the joint bid was chosen as the host nations. The eight cities would be Cairo, Mecca, Medina, Alexandria, Riyadh, Jeddah, Giza, Suez. Cairo was chosen as the main city due to its largest Middle Eastern stadium, used by the Cairo Pharoahs.