"Any successful World Cup bid needs government support, as we saw with the 2012 Olympic success. If the 2018 World Cup comes to Europe we will be giving very serious consideration to making a bid," he said.

"A World Cup in England would be a fantastic event, and we welcome the government’s study to look into the feasibility of hosting the tournament in this country.

"However, The FA will not make any firm decisions on any such bid until the autumn of 2006 at the earliest."