Having spectacularly failed in its attempts to host the 2006 and 2018 World Cups, the Football Association and the English game at large will rightly be wary of further bids to stage the global extravaganza.
With the USA, Canada and Mexico already chosen as the venue for the expanded, 48-team, 2026 edition, FIFA will turn its attention next to the 2030 Centennial World Cup.
Having hosted the first competition back in 1930, Uruguay are keen to be part of the anniversary celebrations and have already confirmed a joint-bid with Argentina and Paraguay.
An English bid, either solo or with the other home nations, has been mooted and in theory there are two strong reasons why it would be a more realistic winner than in either 2006 or 2018.
The first is the move to having 48 teams take part, the sheer size of the competition ruling a large number of countries out of individual bids and placing a strain even on joint ventures.
Four Balkan nations (Greece, Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria) are considering running for 2030 but the logistics of four countries staging matches may be too much.
Three are involved in 2026 but the USA is taking the largest share of the strain and an England/home nations bid would surely be similar.
Secondly, FIFA at present still have their latest rotation policy in place which states that a hosting confederation cannot subsequently stage either of the next two World Cups.
That would rule out Asia, and most importanly China from 2030 and leave England pondering whether a potential bid would be strong enough to see off the competition, including a potential joint bid from Spain and Portugal as well as the emotional pull of a return to Uruguay.
However, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino has expressed the possibility that the rotation policy may be scrapped later this year which would leave China catapulted into the favourites role for 2030.
And with countries such as Australia and Indonesia already talking about a joint bid for the 2034 tournament, the prospect of a second World Cup on English soil looks a long way off at present.