As the World Cup proved once again, the country likes nothing more than gathering around the television to support Sven's men. However, at the moment, The FA has no way of influencing the sale of England's away games to television.

This is a frustrating situation and the FA is keen to discuss the issue with FIFA and UEFA. It is FA policy to enable as many England fans as possible to watch the Three Lions in action, a principle reflected in the current agreement with the BBC and Sky which ensures that all competitive home England games are available on terrestrial television for the whole country to enjoy.

Paul Barber, The FA's Director of Marketing and Communications, revealed that the issue of television rights to England's way games is on his agenda, saying: "As far as the away games are concerned, it is one of my biggest frustrations that we have no control.

"When England went to Finland during the last qualifying campaign for the World Cup - and it was a big game because we had just lost to Germany at Wembley - it was on the now defunct pay-per-view channel U-direct.


"We feel we should have more control because we want as many fans as possible to see these games, but at the moment the host country has all the power and they decide who gets the rights.


"It is an issue we need to address with UEFA and FIFA. You can understand the situation from the point of view of smaller countries. When they play England it means a big pay-day. At the same time it is our brand they are selling, and our fans who miss out.


"The worry is that a match will end up on a pay-per-view channel or something like that."


We'll continue to keep you updated on this story.


* The FA's television partner, Sky Sports, have bought the rights to the European Championship qualifier against Turkey in October of next year