England manager Roy Hodgson has claimed that he feels luckier than rugby union counterpart Stuart Lancaster, having kept his job after an early exit from the World Cup last summer.

Lancaster left his post as head coach of England's rugby union team on Wednesday after his side went out of the Rugby World Cup in the group stage, while Hodgson kept his job despite his team suffering the same fate in Brazil.

Hodgson told a press conference on Thursday: "I was more fortunate that the FA kept faith in me at a time when results didn't go as they should. They could, if they had wanted to, have decided to change course. Stuart wasn't so lucky."

"I'm grateful the FA kept faith with me and the work we were doing with a good team in a transitional period. We're still in that transitional period to some extent because, if anything, the team's getting younger, but the young players are getting a lot of experience."

England, who have qualified for Euro 2016, play a friendly against Spain in Alicante on Friday.