EXCLUSIVE: FA forced to SCRAP Team GB for 2016 Olympics

In the same way as the RFU are recognised as the organising body for rugby, so the FA had been tasked by the British Olympic Association with leading a Team GB to attempt to qualify for the next Games in Rio.

However, FIFA were adamant that all four home nations had to be behind the plan and the FA finally conceded defeat in a letter sent from the FA's director of football services Jonathan Hall to the other British associations on Monday which informed them it had decided to drop the plan.

"It is now dead in the water," said an FA source. "We are furious – particularly on behalf of the women players.

"In some people's eyes the Olympics is even bigger than the women's World Cup and when we have the momentum of having 70,000 watching Team GB at Wembley in 2012 behind us, it is frustrating not to build on that.

"We feel the other home nations are missing an opportunity here because we had hoped their players would be fully involved.

"At the same time, for the men it would have been chance for a serious competition for players at an age where we have already identified there is a lack of such opportunities."

The FA had told Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland back in January it was intending to enter teams for Rio, provoking a storm of criticism.

Football Association of Wales president Trefor Lloyd Hughes described himself at the time as "livid".

An FA spokesman confirmed: "After careful discussion, The FA has decided not to enter either a women's or a men's team into the Rio Olympics 2016.

"We are disappointed not to be able to go ahead, given the fantastic opportunity it would have afforded the players and the broader exposure it would have brought to the game in our countries."