Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron reacts as he listens to Prince Charles speaking about England's unsuccessful FIFA 2018 World Cup bid, at a meeting of business leaders in London December 2, 2010. [Photo/Agencies]

ZURICH - England became the opening round loser with two votes only in the bidding for the 2018 World Cup which went to Russia on Thursday.

When 22 members of the FIFA executive committee casted their votes in Zurich, England got only two votes, including one from Geoff Thompson, the country's only representative on the committee.

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"I cannot believe what has happened," said Thompson, who also served as the England bid chairman. "The votes that were promised clearly didn't materialize. I never imagined we would go out in the first round."

The executive members chose Russia in the second round among the 2018 World Cup bidders, which also include joint bids from Spain-Portugal and Netherlands-Belgium.

Some explained that the British media played a negative impact on the votes as the BBC on Monday aired a documentary, claiming three FIFA executive committee members took secret payments related to marketing deals in the past.

Earlier, The Sunday Times of London published an undercover probe that led to two FIFA executives being implicated in a vote-selling scandal. They were subsequently suspended from duty.