England today ruled out playing Spain in a friendly international for at least two years following last week's racism storm in Madrid.
The FA have a contractual agreement with Spain which allows for a return friendly at some point in the future.
But the racial problems which marred last week's international in Madrid have persuaded the FA to rule out any possibility of a return fixture for at least the next two years.
Sports minister Richard Caborn today welcomed FIFA president Sepp Blatter's "robust" view that he would have sanctioned a protest walk-off in Madrid.
"I believe that the FIFA inquiry into what went on in Madrid should develop some type of solution to say how football deals with these incidents at matches in the future," Caborn said.
And England midfielder Shaun Wright-Phillips, one of the worst affected by the chanting, today spoke for the first time about his ordeal in Spain.
He said: "It wasn't nice to hear what their fans were doing but I just have to let my football do the talking. If I have to play in Spain again, so be it."
