The FA today admitted defeat on staging this year’s FA Cup Final at Wembley after months of speculation that the new £757 million national stadium would not be ready on time.

Brian Barwick, the FA’s chief executive, broke football’s worst-kept secret after a visit to the stadium for talks with Wembley chief executive Michael Cunnah and Martin Tidd, managing director of Australian construction company Multiplex.

"Due to the magnitude of the Cup Final, we are not prepared to compromise or take any risks on the stadium being unable to stage such a significant event," Mr Barwick said in a statement released today.

With the FA Cup entering its sixth round, officials at Soho Square decided that certainty was the best form of preparation for one of the most-watched football matches on the calendar.

The Cup final will be played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on May 13. England’s pre-World Cup friendly matches, against Hungary and Jamaica on May 30 and June 3 respectively, will be staged at Old Trafford.

Mr Barwick chose not to hedge on a potential opening date in his statement. It is anticipated that Wembley will open its doors either for the Community Shield on August 13, or for an England friendly - against opponents yet to be decided - three days later.

The Rugby Football League remain optimistic Wembley will stage the Powergen Challenge Cup Final as planned on August 26.

"The FA took the prudent step of booking the Millennium Stadium as a back-up option to Wembley last August, therefore allowing us to extend this decision as long as possible and giving Multiplex every chance of making the May 13 date," Mr Barwick continued in his statement.

"It is clear to us that while they have over 3,500 people working hard on the site, Multiplex - and indeed WNSL - are unable to give us 100 per cent certainty that the stadium will be completed in time for the FA Cup Final.

"I can confirm this year’s final will now be held at the Millennium Stadium and that England’s pre-World Cup friendlies against Hungary and Jamaica will now be held at Old Trafford."

Mr Barwick and Mr Cunnagh, the chief executive of Wembley National Stadium Ltd, visited the site yesterday hoping that Multiplex, the Australian construction company in charge of the project, would be able to provide a guarantee that an agreed March 31 handover date could be met.

After frank discussions with Martin Tidd, Multiplex UK’s managing director, it was clear that the lead builder could offer no firmer prediction than it could on January 30, when it said that the chances of the Cup Final being staged at Wembley this year had fallen to 70 per cent.

Multiplex said today it was "disappointed" with the FA’s decision. In a statement to the Australian stock exchange, the company's secretary, Mark Wilson, said: " Whilst disappointed with the decision, Multiplex continues to work towards targeting completion of Wembley National Stadium at the earliest possible date."

The FA’s statement comes as no surprise after a catalogue of setbacks for one of Britain’s most troubled construction projects. Ever since its conception, there has been debate about its necessity, but with consensus established that it would be the best stadium in the world, the path to completion has not run smooth.

As Multiplex’s losses on the project approach £100 million, the company has encountered problems with sub-contractors, particularly the steelworkers, and had time-consuming legal run-ins with Quintain, the property group that owns the surrounding land.

The most recent of these wrangles came last week, when a court issued Multiplex with a two-week notice to vacate offices on Quintain land after the two companies failed to agree new rental terms. A spat over access to the main pedestrian ramp cost Multiplex months.

The FA has declined to put a date on when Wembley could be finished for fear of further embarrassment. There could be more delays through the summer, although Multiplex will have the added incentive to finish the stadium as quickly as possible as it accrues overrun penalties of nearly £1 million a week.

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