The absence of a Great Britain women’s football team at next year’s Olympics will be a devastating blow for the game after England’s historic success in reaching the women’s World Cup semi-finals, it has been claimed.

Kelly Simmons, the Football Association’s director of women’s football, said there is no possibility of securing a place for a GB team due to opposition from the other home nations.

England’s success in reaching the semi-finals would have guaranteed Great Britain one of the European slots at the Rio 2016 Games along with Germany and France.

Simmons told BBC Sport: “It’s devastating for the women’s game but I don’t think there is any way back. It’s a real shame, not only for the players who have worked so hard to get to the semi-finals, but also for women’s football. Those sorts of opportunities for coverage and profile don’t come around that often.”

The FA had floated the idea of entering British teams, having done so for the London 2012 Olympics, but Fifa said it would need the backing of all four home nations and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all opposed the idea.

There have been fears that playing as Team GB would threaten their separate status in other competitions such as World Cups. The Scottish Football Association chief executive, Stewart Regan, said: “A significant proportion of Scotland fans have made their feelings very clear on the matter – they want to stay under the Scotland banner. We don’t believe football should be played under a Great Britain banner and the sovereignty issue has always been a threat.

“The decision that was made surrounding London 2012 was a one-off decision as London was hosting the Olympics. There was never any plan to have a permanent British team and we made that very clear, as did the Welsh and Northern Irish.”