Fabio Capello must take England to at least the semi-finals of the next World Cup or Euro 2012 as part of ambitious targets announced by the FA today.

The FA will appoint an international performance director to oversee all national teams below the England men's senior side, although they have stressed he will not be Capello's superior. The FA's strategic vision for the next four years also includes winning the bid for the 2018 World Cup, having the National Football Centre (NFC) at Burton up and running in two years' time, and Wembley Stadium making a profit by 2012.

The document, unveiled today, sets out a number of major milestones for both the men and women's national teams, grassroots football and policy objectives. The target of England making the last four of the next World Cup or European Championships is one of the biggest challenges, especially given their failure to qualify for Euro 2008. The England women's team have been presented with the same target.

Capello was typically unfazed by the news of what was expected of him. “I am not under any pressure - I came here to become England manager with the view and the intent of doing things and I think we can achieve good things because we have got a good team,” he said.

“You need to work all the time knowing that the road is long and you need to improve from one day to the next with the view of achieving the important targets that we have set.

“First and foremost - we must realise - the past is past. I am confident, I have a good team and I can work on it in order to achieve the targets I have been set.

“I need to see what players can give me so in the France game we wanted to experiment and to test various players. So I have been experimenting and I will be experimenting in the next couple games and the important thing is to get ready for the qualifying campaign.”

The Italian was similarly at ease with the appointment of an international performance director.

"This person will be in charge of researching, gathering information. Looking at the outside world - the football world in particular,” Capello added.

“But also the sports world in order to gather the best possible information and everything we might need to help us achieve our targets.

“This was something that was thought out in a meeting with the chairman and chief executive and it is aimed at giving us the best possible means to obtain what we want.”

Lord Triesman, the FA chairman, said: "This document sets out our goals for the next four years and how we intend to achieve them. The FA is prepared to speak and act for the greatest sport in the world. There is much to do, and we have the determination to do it."

Brian Barwick, the FA chief executive, admitted: "There are some significant challenges but we are confident of tackling them."

According to the FA's report, England is producing "insufficient high-quality players to represent the England national teams and insufficient quality coaches."

The NFC at Burton will be the hub of player and coaching development, according to the FA. The structure of the set-up will be changed with an 'international performance group' made up of Triesman, Barwick, Capello, Stuart Pearce, the manager of the England Under-21 team, as well as the new performance director and the chairman of the international committee.

Other milestones which the FA hopes to achieve include a million 5-11 year olds trained through the FA/Tesco Skills Programme by 2010, 125,000 existing teams retained and 20,500 new teams created by 2012, 26,000 referees retained and an additional 8,000 referees recruited by 2012.

The FA are also aiming for their Respect campaign to have improved overall disciplinary performance by 25 per cent in four years' time.

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