Russia, Qatar to remain World Cup hosts

Rio de Janeiro

RUSSIA and Qatar will remain hosts of the next two World Cups after soccer's governing body failed to find any evidence of significant wrongdoing in the award of the tournaments.

While an investigation by the ethics committee of Fifa led by former US attorney Michael Garcia found that some bidders gave excess gifts or complied with improper requests for funds or jobs ahead of the December 2010 vote, the violations weren't enough to reopen the process, according to a summary report released on Thursday.