The potential for embarrassment is enormous, but the FA starts its search today for the chief executive who will lead England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup. Headhunters are advertising the job to lead the company set up by the FA that will prepare proposals ready for submission to Fifa within two years.

The job, which could have a salary of £250,000 a year, is high-profile but will be thankless if England lose out, as they did for the 2006 World Cup. Millions of pounds were wasted then and senior FA officials were left with substantial amounts of egg on their collective faces as they lost out to Germany.

That embarrassing setback is why Lord Triesman, the FA chairman, has put together a new company devoted to the bid. He is determined not to fall into the same traps, as well as ensuring value for the FA’s money, with the cost of the bid likely to reach as much as £15 million.

Triesman wants a specialist chief executive, not necessarily from football, capable of guiding the FA submission through the minefield of Fifa politics as well as putting together a proposal, similar to London’s 2012 Olympic bid, that will leave a legacy to English and world football. The ideal candidate would have football connections but a background in big business. No names have been mentioned but the trawl started by Odgers Ray & Berndtson, the headhunting company, could throw up some surprises.

The new company also needs a chief operating officer to carry out the day-to-day running of the business, plus a technical director to deal with the detail. There will also be a new director of communications, which means that Adrian Bevington, who fills the position at the FA, looks unlikely to play any part in the final bid team. Interviews could be held within weeks and the FA wants to make appointments before the end of the year so that the bid team will be working early next year at Wembley Stadium. The final decision by Fifa is expected to be in early 2011.

The search has started for at least ten stadiums to host matches, with FA officials going to Nottingham last week, where they approved proposals by Nottingham Forest for a new 50,000-seat ground as part of a £100 million sporting complex being built on the outskirts of the city.

But the competition for the 2018 tournament will be fierce: Portugal and Spain, and the Netherlands and Belgium, are likely to field joint bids, while Australia and Russia have also declared an interest.

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