Football will not be coming home in eight years' time after it emerged England had crashed out in the first round of voting, securing just two votes, and Fifa instead awarded the tournament to Russia.
"We have had four bidders for 2018 and we can have only one winner. Three of the bidding associations must go home saying 'what a pity'. But they must say football is not only by winning but football is also a school of life where you learn to lose. That's not easy," said Blatter, under pressure following a series of scandals.
A late final lobbying push led by the prime minister David Cameron, David Beckham and Prince William and a well-received final presentation was not enough to avoid a humiliating exit and spark huge recriminations.
The England bid team went into today's vote believing they had secured enough votes to make it through the first round and could see "a path to victory".
But other contributory factors may have included the fact that England lack a dynamic political operator at the top level of the world game and the year lost at the beginning of the bid to internal infighting.
The decision will come as a bitter blow to the Football Association, which has spent £15m on the bid at a time when it is under financial pressure.
This week's last-ditch lobbying effort marked the end of a rollercoaster campaign punctuated by bitter internal rows, boardroom upheaval, triumphant set pieces and corruption allegations.
Spain's Fifa member Angel Villar Llona attempted to build on any anti-England feeling by taking a swipe at the English media's investigations into Fifa in their final 2018 World Cup bid presentation.
England's compelling presentation this morning, in which a 27-year-old Manchester City community worker, Eddie Afekafe, arguably stole the thunder of the Cameron, Beckham and Prince William, condensed the pitch that England have been trying to sell for months amid the corruption and collusion claims.
The presentation, overseen by the same marketing director who masterminded London's successful pitch to win the Olympics in Singapore in 2005, was designed to drive home those core themes.
Spain's president José Luís Zapatero stressed the countries' infrastructure. He said: "Spain is the country with the broadest network of high-speed trains in Europe. We have 50 airports in Iberia, Spain and Portugal is also the most visited destination worldwide, 70million tourists a year – that's an example of our hotel power and our ability to host."
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