As if England’s poor performance at the World Cup wasn’t bad enough, the Football Association (FA) has suffered another blow after team sponsor Nationwide, confirmed they will be terminating their sponsorship.

The building society has been the England team’s sponsor for the past 11 years under a deal worth £20m over four years. This week though they announceed that it is ‘unlikely’ they will renew their deal when it expires this month.

A Nationwide spokeswoman is cited on marketing news website Marketing Magazine as saying: “Nationwide’s sponsorship of the England team has been extremely successful over 11 seasons and has significantly raised the profile of our organisation. Our current sponsorship deal ends at the end of July and it is unlikely to be renewed.”

It is believed Nationwide refused to match the FA’s asking price, thought to be as much as £40m, set before the sides ignominious exit from South Africa.

The decision may leave the FA struggling to fill a gap in its funding as some believe England’s early exit has lessened the appeal of the national side, leaving the FA unable to demand the type of money they have in the past.

Possible contenders to replace Nationwide as sponsor are said to include Orange and Blackberry.

It has been a turbulent year for the FA who last month were forced to sign a one-year extension with FA cup sponsor E-ON, after failing to find a permanent replacement following the announcement that EON was ending their sponsorship. They also lost their £2m deal with National Express when the the transport firm declined to renew their arrangement.

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