Russia has been chosen to host the 2018 World Cup and Qatar has been selected to stage the 2022 tournament.
The Russian bid was picked ahead of England, Spain-Portugal and Holland-Belgium to host the 2018 event.
Qatar got the better of the United States, Australia, Japan and South Korea to stage in 2022.
Both decisions were made on Thursday following a secret ballot of football's world governing body Fifa's 22 executive members in Zurich.
Russia received nine votes in the first round of voting and an outright majority of 13 in the second round, while Qatar obtained an outright majority of 14 in the fourth round of voting for 2022.
It is the first time that either Russia or Qatar has been chosen as host nation for the World Cup.
"You have entrusted us with the Fifa World Cup for 2018 and I can promise, we all can promise, you will never regret it," said Russian deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov. "Let us make history together."
Russia's selection comes despite the absence of Prime Minister Valdimir Putin from the vote in Switzerland.
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Qatar win right to host 2022 World Cup
The 58-year-old had been expected to be a prominent figurehead for the Russian bid in the final days of campaigning but instead remained in Moscow.
He is now expected to fly to Zurich to thank Fifa for what he described as "a sign of trust" for his country.
"Russia loves football, Russia knows what football is and in our country we have everything to conduct the 2018 World Cup on a very worthy level," said Putin in a televised interview.
"The decision corresponds with Fifa's philosophy for developing football, especially in those regions of the world where that development is needed."
Qatar's Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani was in attendance in Zurich, and he thanked Fifa for "believing in change".
"We have worked very hard over past two years to get to this point," Al-Thani said. "Today we celebrate, but tomorrow, the work begins.
"We acknowledge there is a lot of work for us to do, but we also stand by our promise that we will deliver."
 | 2018 VOTING 1st round: England 2 (eliminated), Netherlands-Belgium 4; Spain-Portugal 7; Russia 9 2nd round: Netherlands-Belgium 2; Spain-Portugal 7; Russia 13 (Russia obtain absolute majority) |
The tiny oil-rich Gulf state, with a population estimated to be around 1.7m, will be the first Middle Eastern country to host a major sporting event, and a central crux of their bid centred around boosting the region's global profile.
With the country's economy expected to grow by 15.5% this year and soar by 21% in 2011, Qatar is expected to spare no expense in constructing stadiums for the event, with the total cost of construction work expected to be around £3bn.
Under the proposals submitted to Fifa, Qatar would renovate three stadiums and build nine new ones, with the 12 venues divided among seven host cities.
This includes the proposed 86,000-capacity Lusail Stadium, which is expected to be completed by 2019 and is scheduled to host the opening and final matches.
Bid organisers say that all the stadiums will be climate-controlled and zero-carbon emitting to combat what could be temperatures as high as 50C during the two hottest months of the year in Qatar.
The country has also launched a huge spending policy in recent years to accommodate its growing population, splashing out billions on rail, air and road links.
Plans are also in place to complete a metro system to connect each stadium by 2017, meaning travel time between venues would be no more than an hour.
Russia's plan for improving facilities in host cities are also in line with Fifa's long-term plans for developing the sport, especially in regions with outdated infrastructure.
| 2022 VOTING 1st round: Australia 1 (eliminated); Japan 3; United States 3; South Korea 4; Qatar 11 2nd round: Japan 2 (eliminated); South Korea 5; United States 5; Qatar 10 3rd round: South Korea 5 (eliminated); United States 6; Qatar 11 4th round: United States 8; Qatar 14 |
Russia has proposed staging the tournament in 13 cities, grouped into four clusters that stretch from exclave of Kaliningrad on the borders of the European Union to Yekaterinburg in the Urals on the fringe of Siberia.
Putin's promise to scrap visas was seen as crucial to his country's prospects of winning the vote as nationals of almost all countries outside the former Soviet Union require the paperwork to visit Russia.
There have been concerns that Russia's vast size, its remoteness from other countries and what is seen as a relatively weak transport system could make travelling around the country problematic.
All the host cities are in the European region of the country and Putin has promised that fans will be able to travel on public transport for free during the event.
The results have brought to a close an extremely controversial voting procedure, with Fifa facing a number of allegations of corruption, which has led to the suspension of two members of the executive committee.
A recent investigation by BBC's Panorama, which was broadcast on Monday, accused three executive committee members of accepting payments and alleged Fifa vice-president Jack Warner attempted to supply ticket touts.
An increasingly acrimonious climax to campaigning saw Spanish and Russian officials issue veiled attacks on the British media for reports on alleged corruption in world football's governing body.
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