FA chief Alex Horne says they've been taken aback by the international retirement of Chelsea captain John Terry.
In a statement, Terry cited the upcoming FA case involving himself and claims he racially abused QPR's Anton Ferdinand.
But FA general secretary Horne insists the incident and Terry's England career are separate matters.
Horne said: "It's a personal decision. I don't see how we've made it untenable, they're two very separate processes.
"It's something that happened in a match - it shouldn't be taking a year to resolve but we feel we're reaching a conclusion on that.
"That's a very different process from our England procedures.
"They sit in different compartments and I could separate the two in my mind, but it doesn't look like he could."