Fabio Capello plans to take England to a high-altitude training camp in Austria before next year’s World Cup finals to acclimatise the players to the thin air in South Africa.

Should England qualify for the finals, one old foe, hot weather, is unlikely to be a problem — the tournament takes place during the South African winter — but the density of the air might leave players wheezing.

The stadiums in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban are at sea level, but the other seven venues are at altitude, most notably Johannesburg, the location for the final, which is about 1,700 metres above sea level.

Capello, known for his attention to detail, believes that an Alpine excursion would help. “We’re looking at the prospect of going to Austria ahead of the next World Cup before coming to South Africa a week before the tournament begins,” the England manager told fifa.com.

“We won’t have any problems with jet lag and in terms of getting used to the climate, a week will be enough.” Capello also wants England’s base in the host country to be high up. “We’re looking for a place [at] altitude, plus [we have] the standard of the pitches and the hotel in mind," he said. "They’re the three things that are the most important to us.”

The manager also said that he may use England’s final two qualifying matches, against Ukraine and Belarus, to try out fringe and young players if England have already qualified. “It’s possible that we will experiment with the line-up, because that’s really important,” he said.

The Italian offered encouragement to England’s Under-21 players, who finished as runners-up in last month’s European Championship in Sweden. “There are some players who played in Sweden who have already played with us — Theo Walcott, Joe [Hart], [James] Milner,” Capello said. “In the future, I think that we will have new players with us.”