The Swedish Athletic Association has criticised the International Association of Athletics Federations for awarding the city of Eugene the World Athletics Championships in 2021.

The IAAF opted against the usual bidding procedure for just the second time in its history to name Eugene as the hosts for the event.

However, Swedish Athletics has complained about the decision, as it had been planning a bid to bring the championships to Gothenburg.

"This is not fair play - we were taken by surprise," Swedish Athletics' general secretary Anders Albertsson is quoted as saying by BBC Sport. "We've stated the question on numerous occasions and been told the normal procedure would be applied in 2021.

"We told the IAAF of our intentions back in 2012 and then had a meeting with them when we hosted the Indoor Worlds in 2013. We wanted to host the 2021 championships so it would coincide with the the city's 400th anniversary.

"We were preparing the documents for the political decisions that had to be made in Gothenburg. The federation and city put a lot of effort into the dream of hosting the championships."

This year's World Championships are set to take place in Beijing in August.