FA Chairman Greg Dyke Sets England 2022 World Cup Win Target
New Football Association chairman Greg Dyke has set England the ambitious target of winning the 2022 World Cup while outlining his vision for the future of the national game.
Dyke, appointed to replace David Bernstein as FA chairman in the summer, has also claimed the amount of foreign players plying their trade in the Premier League is damaging England's chances at major tournaments.
"Today I want to set the whole of English football two targets," Dyke told assembled guests at London's Millbank Tower in his first address as FA chairman.
"The first is for the England team to at least reach the semi finals of the Euro Championships in 2020 and the second is for us to win the World Cup in 2022.
"To show we are making progress along the way I'd like to see us do well in the Under-20s World Cup in 2017 with the objective of that squad then moving on to the Under-21 Championships.
"This takes us to Euro 2020, where we would expect Wembley to host a number of games, possibly England's group games.
"This will give us a focus and a platform to have a real crack at making inroads into the later stages of the tournament.
"Home advantage at tournaments has provided England with two of its best three showings over the past 50 years. And from there, we would expect to move on to the 2022 World Cup."
The 2022 World Cup is due to be held in Qatar, a tournament which Dyke says would be "impossible" to be held in the summer.
Just 32% of players starting matches in the top flight last season were eligible for England but chief-executive Richard Scudamore has continually defended the league's impact on the national team's success.
But Dyke, who as a former television executive played a role in the formation of the Premier League, added: "I was the host of the original dinner when the five clubs decided to break away and set up The FA Premier League.
"What none of us at that dinner could have foreseen was that because of the very success of the Premier League, 20 years later we would end up with a league largely owned by foreign owners, managed by foreign managers and played by foreign players and that, as a result, it could be argued that the England set-up has been weakened, rather than strengthened, by the creation of the Premier League.
"Saying this I am not being xenophobic but my job is to help ensure that English football and particularly the England team is in a healthy state.
"As a former journalist I know this speech could well be written up as 'Dyke declares war on the Premier League' but it genuinely isn't that. English football has a problem. English football has to find a solution together. As I said earlier at The FA we know we have to up our own game.
"But it is also crucial that English football finds a solution without undermining the undoubted success of the Premier League. We don't want to kill the golden goose in the search of the golden egg but we do have to do something if the English team is to prosper in the future."
A commission including representatives from the Premier League, the Football League the League Managers Association and the Professional Footballers' Association with one of the intentions being to investigate the possibility of introducing a quota to combat the amount of foreign players in the English game
"We will consider looking at if it's possible to introduce quotas, in legal terms a complex matter but one which should be explored," Dyke said.
"We should also examine how the current work permit system operates - and it is worth pointing out that roughly 30% of the players who received work permits this summer did not meet the standard criteria - and we should review the loan system to see if it can be made more effective in terms of developing players.
"I would also expect the commission to evaluate the pros and cons of a mid-season break."
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