The Football Association (FA) has apologised for the timing of calls to inform players they had missed out on Britain's Olympic squad, with Birmingham City goalkeeper Hannah Hampton left in tears shortly before a Women's Super League match on Thursday.

Hampton broke down after learning she had not made the shortlist just 90 minutes before Birmingham's game against Everton. The goalkeeper went on to make three errors as her side slumped to a 4-0 defeat.

Birmingham manager Carla Ward criticised the timing of the FA's calls.

"Hannah has made three errors for the goals ... an hour and a half before kick-off the FA decided to give her a call and let her know she wasn't in the Olympic squad," Ward said.

"The girls are going out to warm-up and she's in tears. We're wondering whether to even play her. We had a kid, a 20-year-old, in floods of tears, it's clearly affected her and I think the timing is thoughtless."

The FA said they would apologise to the players and clubs.

"The timing of the correspondence was an error but we take full responsibility for the upset this has caused," a spokesperson for the governing body told British media.

Everton boss Willie Kirk said the clubs should have been informed before the players.

"If it's good news or bad, the clubs should get a heads up to try and support the players," Kirk said.

"Certainly, a player finding out that information two hours before kick-off is wrong in my opinion, I think it's very, very poor. It has affected our players."