If England fail to qualify for Euro 2008 it would cost £8million in lost commercial fees and a minimum £4m in UEFA prize money but sports marketing experts say the long-term damage could be much greater.
Analysts say sponsors' desire to be associated with success means that England's failure would have a knock-on effect with future agreements - in the same way that winning the tournament would push the brand value that much higher.
FA sources say around £8million would be lost from sponsorship and merchandising agreements that only kick in when England get to the finals of the World Cup or European Championships.
The chance of earning a further £4million to £14million in tournament prize money - depending on success in the Euro 2008 finals - would also be lost.
Dr Simon Chadwick, professor of sport business strategy and marketing at Coventry Business School, said: "For me the bigger issue is what it says about the brand.
"What sponsors like to do is bask in reflected glory - companies such as adidas and Nike like to be associated with the most successful teams - and if they cannot do that it potentially has an impact on the brand and sponsorship values can fall."
The FA's agreements totalling around £100million with top sponsors Umbro, National Express, Carlsberg, Eon and McDonalds last until after the 2010 World Cup, and Chadwick says the next round of talks are likely to begin at the end of 2008.
He added: "The main sponsors will soon start considering renewing their deals and re-negotiating around the end of next year and if England have not been in the European Championship finals that will have an impact.
"It's also not just the amount of sponsorship revenues it's the type of sponsor you can associate with.
"If you are successful the likes of Sony, Coca-Cola and Vodafone will want to be involved and potentially the final gains will be much greater for you.
"The less successful you are, the more you have to settle for smaller brands and that an indirect effect on the revenues and commercial opportunities available to you."
England's defeat by Russia last night means qualification now depends on other teams' results.
FA insiders say the loss of the income will not affect the running of the organisation at all, but will mean that less money will be available to be diverted to other football schemes.
The governing body's television deal is also unaffected - a new one with ITV and Setanta has only just been signed and lasts until 2012.
An FA source said: "First and foremost we are not out of it yet, we can still qualify though admittedly it is no longer in our hands.
"It we did fail to qualify, there would be no significant impact on our financial structure.
"We are an organisation that will be generating more than £200million a year as of next summer and we are already reinvesting £60million a year into the game at the moment.
"The organisation is more financially secure than ever before and if we did not qualify it would mean only around 3.5% of our annual revenue not coming in."
The FA have 45 licensees including Tesco and Kelloggs who have deals to sell England endorsed products and memorabilia that are activated during World Cup or European Championship finals.
