The Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson does not believe England will win the World Cup next summer, even though nine members of his squad are aiming to be in Fabio Capello’s line-up for the finals.

The Scot is instead tipping Brazil to win the trophy for the sixth time. “I can’t see past Brazil, actually,” Ferguson was quoted as saying in the Daily Mail. “They are going to be the ones in South Africa. They are going to be hard to beat. You just have to think of the players they can bring in – they are a supplier of great players.

“Last season, there were 103 Brazilians in the Champions League and only 15 Englishmen. More Scots played in the Champions League last season than English players. I thought the 11/10 on Brazil to beat England was the bet of the century.”

Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Wes Brown and Ben Foster are all likely to go to South Africa while Owen Hargreaves, Michael Owen, Gary Neville and Danny Welbeck are on the preipheries of the squad as Capello attempts to lead England to a World Cup victory abroad for the first time.

“The small number of English players in the Champions League is down to the way the Premier League has developed,” Ferguson said. “The eternal question is at what point the Premier League is going to have to feature more English players.

“We are not too bad at this club in terms of young players coming through but Liverpool would struggle.”