Acting Football Association chairman Roger Burden has pulled out of the running to take up the post on a permanent nature.
England’s failure to secure the rights to host the 2018 World Cup has led to his decision, with Burden declaring that he no longer trusts Fifa members after the English bid was caned in the Zurich vote, Russia getting the honour of hosting the tournament while Qatar will host in 2022.
The England bid received just two votes – including one from former FA chairman Geoof Thompson – despite officials for the bid having suggested that they had been assured by up to six Fifa members that they would be voting on their side.
That did not come to pass and Burden admits that the Sunday Times and BBC Panorama investigations into Fifa probably played a role in putting off voters, though feels the world governing body of the sport needs thicker skin.
"I recognise that an important part of the role is liaison with Fifa, our global governing body," said Burden, who was appointed last May.
"I'm not prepared to deal with people whom I cannot trust and I've withdrawn my candidacy.
"We have a free press in our country and we all have to live with adverse comment from time to time.
"But there is no doubt that English football benefits from the media coverage that it receives and would have been given great coverage if we had brought the World Cup to England.”
Burden went on to congratulate the winning Russian bid, but maintained that he was mystified by how poorly England fared.
He added: "I have no issue with Russia's winning bid. I am sure they will put on a great World Cup and I have congratulated them.
"We were equal top of Fifa's own technical assessment of the four bids (joint Spain-Portugal and Netherland-Belgium bids also missed out).
"We were top of an independent assessment of the best commercial bids and our presentation on Thursday was widely acclaimed as the best of the 2018 and 2022 bids.
"Against this background, I am struggling to understand how we only achieved two votes. It is difficult to believe that the voting was an objective process.
"On top of that, Prince William, the Prime Minister and other members of our delegation were promised votes that did not materialise."