As was reported over on the mothership, sbnation, Qatar has taken the 2022 World Cup Bid over the USA in the fourth round of voting, 14 votes to 8. Qatar will be the first Middle Eastern and the first Islamic nation to host a World Cup, which likely strengthened their pitch. According to the scuttlebutt, several World Cup delegates saw appointing the World Cup as an act of goodwill, much like choosing South Africa for this last World Cup even though at the time of the bid there were still improvements to be made in order to be ready to host.
Qatar never trailed in the voting, while the US gained votes with each elimination. Starting with just three votes, the US went up to 5 after Australia was eliminated (receiving just one vote, the US also took one of Qatar’s votes in the second round), then six in the third (splitting the two votes which had gone to second round eliminated Japan). However once Korea was eliminated, three of their votes went to Qatar and two went to the US. The USA would have needed to take all of the votes for Korea in the fourth round just to tie.
Russia won the 2018 bid in the second round with an outright majority. England only received 2 votes in the first round. The joint bids of Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands were easily defeated by Russia in the second round. Russia has never hosted a World Cup.