LONDON (AFP) - England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has reiterated that he is not a contender to become the new Real Madrid coach.
The Swede has been linked to the vacancy created by Jose Antonio Camacho's shock resignation earlier this week after just six games in charge.
But he insisted on Wednesday that there had been no contact between him and Real and that he was committed to guiding England to the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany.
"In the future who knows, but first of all I want to do this job," Eriksson told Sky Sports News. "As I said, we have qualifying games and there is nothing to discuss. It is not even an issue."
Eriksson has been repeatedly linked with club management jobs throughout his time in charge of the national side and admitted having talks with Chelsea earlier this year.
The furore that dalliance caused resulted in Eriksson signing a new contract which keeps him in charge until 2008 and enhanced his status as the world's best-paid coach, on a reported salary of four million pounds.
Ironically, the contract designed to keep Eriksson is now the biggest obstacle to getting rid of him, as some members of the Football Association hierarchy wanted to do after England were eliminated in the quarter-finals of Euro 2004.
Eriksson is currently preparing for tough back-to-back qualifiers against Wales and Azerbaijan, for which he will have to do without influential Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard and possibly Wayne Rooney as well.
He voiced confidence that his squad could cope without Gerrard, who is out for up to two months after breaking a bone in his foot.
"We don't have another Steven Gerrard that is for sure, but Nicky Butt is back so he will be important for us for sure," Eriksson said.
On Rooney, who has not played since Euro 2004 because of the same injury as Gerrard has suffered, Eriksson said his involvement in the squad would depend on when he returns to action for his new club Manchester United.
Rooney could be in line to make his first appearance for United at Tottenham on Saturday but Eriksson admitted he had not been briefed on the state of his recovery.
"I'm not sure if he is gong to play this weekend or the weekend after, so we just have to wait and see," he said.
"If he is not able to play for his club it is difficult to see how he can play for his country."
Rooney's absence has been made less critical by Jermain Defoe's sparkling performance on his full debut in the win over Poland earlier this month.
England are currently joint top of group six with four points from their first two matches, tied with Austria, with whom they drew their opening match 2-2.