CONCACAF [4] president Warner said on Wednesday that England’s bid needed to exploit its heavyweight support and on Thursday England presented a squad of past and present overseas players as international ambassadors for the bid.

The list includes Warner’s Trinidad and Tobago compatriot Kenwyne Jones, Ivory Coast defender Kolo Toure, Paraguay’s Roque Santa Cruz, Nigeria’s Nwankwo Kanu, Argentina’s 1978 World Cup winners Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricardo Villa, Italy’s Gianfranco Zola and South Africa’s Lucas Radebe.

“We feel each and every individual will be a tremendous asset to England 2018,” bid chief executive Andy Anson told a Leaders in Football conference at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge.

England players like David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and former greats Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer have already given the bid their backing.

The FA said each ambassador would offer support to England 2018 at home and abroad, including use of their images in promotional materials and in meetings with key figures.

FA chairman Lord Triesman acknowledged Warner’s recent comments but pointed out that a successful England bid would have an impact on regions around the world, particularly in the developing nations whose players were familiar faces in the Premier League.

Triesman said England’s last failed bid had been rightly criticised in the past for “hectoring people about our right to host the World Cup”.

“I think it was as crude as it was ineffective,” Triesman said of that approach. “So we’ve spent what must seem a long, quiet period listening and learning from the global football family.”