The Football Association has joined England head coach Sven Goran Eriksson in urging World Cup organisers to agree to Eriksson’s and his fellow World Cup coaches request to extend the deadline for naming their squads for the World Cup Finals.

The current ruling stipulates that national coaches must confirm their 23-man squads on 15 May, but not only Eriksson, also Holland coach Marco van Basten and France coach Raymond Domenech, as well as many other national coaches have all agreed that they want the deadline to be closer to the start of the tournament, on June 9.

Now the FA executive director David Davies has joined the England boss, saying: “We'll be seriously disappointed if there is no movement on that date.”

A decision on Eriksson's request is due to be made at FIFA's World Cup organising committee meeting in Zurich on Thursday.

Eriksson met many of his fellow coaches at a World Cup workshop in Düsseldorf last week, in which most of the coaches for the teams participating in the Finals met up, and was given unanimous backing.

"Sven is rightly perceived as one of the most senior international coaches and he has had approval from all his colleagues," said Davies.

“The whole purpose of the four-week preparation period is to give all the coaches the best chance to bring their squads to the World Cup in the best condition.

“Quite understandably, the coaches want to make their judgements as late as possible.”

Holland coach Marco van Basten has already joined Sven in calling for the deadline to be extended, and van Basten has said that the current date would make things far harder for coaches to integrate their squads.

“The problem is that I can only see my players at their club and can't work with them myself,” van Basten said at the end of last month.

“I believe you can make your final choice if you have worked for a week or 10 days with each other.

“I would prefer it if I could leave my choice until one day before the tournament starts, though I understand that will be tough for the organisers,” said the Oranje boss.

It is hoped that FIFA will allow at least another week beyond the current deadline of May 15.

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