Prime Minister Putin acted much different this time when dealing with one of the biggest single-sport events in the world. In 2007 he traveled to Guatemala to help secure the 2014 Winter Olympics for Sochi. He announced this trip a week in advance and as a consequence was able to finalize votes and plans to take the festivities to Russia. It was different when he was supposed to be an advocate for the 2018 Soccer World Cup bid. He gave notice one day before the final day of being able to convince the FIFA committee, that he was not going to come. His reasoning for it can be understood if we look at how crazy the politicking and lobbying efforts are when trying to get the competition to their own country.
Putin stated that his withdrawal was due to an allegation that the bidding process had turned into an “unfair competition” following scandals targeting FIFA dented its stature as a favorite to host the event. On Wednesday he explained in a personal statement “we have unfortunately seen a clear campaign against members of the FIFA executive committee.”
