The 44-year-old will start in January after being hired from the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Europe, where he had been chief executive for two years.

 

He is the Football Association's second-choice as Rick Parry was the unanimous choice of the selection panel, as exclusively revealed by insidethegames last Saturday.

 

But he turned it down after deciding to stay at Premiership Liverpool.

 

That, however, did not appear to dampen Anson's enthusiasm at being chosen to try to get the World Cup back to England for the first time since 1966.

 

He said: "It's a tremendous challenge and within the excitement there's also a huge responsibility for all of us working on the project.

 

"A World Cup here can benefit the nation and unite communities across the country, but this is also a bid that will aim to unite the entire globe.

 

"We have fantastic infrastructure already in place - including some of the best and most famous stadia in world football - but that alone will not be enough."

 

The race to host the 2018 World Cup is set to be the most competitive in the tournament's history.

 

Besides England, the only other confirmed bidders at the moment are Australia and a joint collaboration between Holland and Belgium.

 

But, among those, expected to declare themselves as candidates are Russia, Qatar, China, United States, Mexico and a joint bid from Portugal and Spain.

 

England bid to host the 2006 World Cup but were defeated by Germany following a campaign that descended into acrimony.

 

Anson said: "We cannot afford to sit back and expect success.

 

"We will have to work extremely hard to show the world that England is the place for the World Cup in 2018 and I'm delighted I shall be playing my part."

 

Anson was at Man United from 2004-2006 and was involved in the £56.5 million shirt sponsorship deal with American insurance company AIG.

 

Previous to joining Manchester United, Anson was a partner at OC&C Strategy Consultants with responsibility for the international media and entertainment practice and had successful spells at Channel 4 Television and with The Walt Disney Company in California.

 

The Oldham-born and Rochdale-raised Anson graduated with a degree in mathematics from Oxford University and received his MBA at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, where he learnt to speak fluent French.

 

A promising schoolboy footballer, he was on Manchester City's as a youngster, and earned a blue playing for Oxford.

 

Lord Triesman, the chairman of the FA and the World Cup bid, said:  "He had an outstanding record at Manchester United and understands both the football and commercial sides of the industry.

 

"In his current role he has been at the centre of professional tennis and has done a tremendous job for the sport."

 

ATP executive chairman Etienne de Villiers said: "Andy will be a hard act to follow as ATP CEO for Europe.

 

"The FA could not have picked a better person to lead their bid for the 2018 World Cup.

 

"He will be greatly missed by his colleagues."