The United States lost its 2022 World Cup bid to Qatar, FIFA announced today.

FIFA selected the small country of Qatar to host the month-long event, beating out bids from the U.S., Australia, Japan, and Korea.

Qatar, which has never actually qualified to play in the world's premier soccer tournament, is the first Middle Eastern country and the smallest ever to be named a host country.

Russia was also selected as host of the 2018 World Cup, beating out Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, 2010 World Cup champion Spain, and soccer powerhouse England.

Under proposals submitted by the U.S., the new Meadowlands stadium, home of the New York Giants and Jets, was expected to be one of at least eight U.S. cities utilized during the competition.

"It's almost like the Super Bowl vote, all you know are the results,” said Mark Lamping, president and chief executive officer of the new Meadowlands stadium. “You don't know why somebody may have voted for New York, or may have voted for Tampa, during the process, or Miami, you know the only people who know why they voted were those that have the votes."

"I think United States fans have to be more into it," said Alex Torres, a student who attended a announcement-viewing party at a Manhattan tourism office. "Soccer is becoming more important in the U.S. but I think it needs to increase a little bit more. And I think the more faithful we become in watching soccer is when I think we'll get it."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg also expressed disappointment over the FIFA committee's decision.

“It is very hard for America to get an event like the Olympics, or the soccer world cup. Because America has a lot of costs built in that other places don't have,” said the mayor. “Back when we tried for the Olympics, we did everything. We had the greatest bid and we didn't get it. People said oh that was because of George Bush, but when we have Barack Obama we'll be able to win these things, but that's just not the case.”

The Business of Sports School students who watched the announcement had some advice for U.S. soccer officials: keep on trying.

"We still have 2026,” said student Danny Matos. “Maybe we can get it then."

"We will get the chance one day,” said student Diego Ganam.

The old Meadowlands stadium hosted seven matches, including the a semi-final match, the last time the World Cup was held in the United States in 1994.

Thirty-two teams compete in the tournament, with matches taking place at numerous sites within the host country.