To see fans tears and heartbreak in Sydney...

 

FIFA President Sepp Blatter surprised many when he revealed details of the voting would be revealed after the winning bids were announced.

FIFA use a system where the winning bid must have an absolute majority to win, and if no bid has that, the bid with the lowest votes gets eliminated and everyone votes on those nations remaining.

Analysts had predicted Japan and Korea would be the first bids to be ruled out in the first two rounds of voting.

But in the end Australia was the very first country to exit the voting process.

The Come Play! bid only got one vote from a possible 22. Not even the vote of suspended OFC delegate Reynald Temarii would have saved Australia from the first round elimination.

Japan and the USA both got three votes and Korea four, while Qatar very nearly won on the first vote, earning 11 votes in the initial round.

Japan were eliminated in the second round after collecting just two votes, and Korea were ruled out in the third round when they earned just five votes

In the final round of voting, the USA lost 14-8 to winners Qatar.

Federal Sports Minister Mark Arbib was shocked to hear of how the voting panned out.

"We're all pretty shattered over here - the result didn't go our way. It was a bit unexpected," he admitted. "We thought we'd run a first class campaign to win.

"Mohammad Bin Hammam has been working very hard and is a very influential player in FIFA politics. People are making all sorts of allegations but they ran a very strong campaign.

"Their presentation was first class."

He also ruled out greenlighting the proposed Australian stadium expansion plans included in the World Cup bid.

Arbib added: "[The stadium investment] was all based on hosting the World Cup..."

To see fans tears and heartbreak in Sydney...