Hodgson's team face a third qualifying round clash against either Macedonian side Rabotnicki or Armenia's Mika later this month in what will be the former Fulham manager's first competitive match in charge of the Reds.
With the first leg scheduled for July 29, Hodgson knows he is going to have to kick off without Steven Gerrard, Javier Mascherano, Jose Reina, Dirk Kuyt, Ryan Babel, Daniel Agger, Glen Johnson, Jamie Carragher and the already injured Fernando Torres.
Hodgson's medical staff have warned him about forcing those players back into action too early after their grueling season finally came to an end in South Africa earlier this month.
"Possibly none of our World Cup players will play in the early Europa Cup games if we listen to the advice of the sports science people," Hodgson said.
"They are telling me we would be very foolhardy to use players who have only been training for three or four days on the back of the World Cup that early on because that will affect us further on down the road.
"If we feel we are endangering our chances of doing well in the Premier League by risking players in the early stage of the Europa League, it will be a decision the club will have to take. You have to follow the guidance." Gerrard, Carragher, Johnson and Agger will start individual fitness programs at the club's Melwood training ground soon, but Mascherano, Reina, Kuyt and Babel will not return until after the Europa League first leg has been played.
"Their (medical staff's) advice is to not use these players," Hodgson said. "If we have enough players to put a team out without them is another question.
"Things can happen before July 29; we will not be speculating on that and there is no point in me making predictions of what the team will be like for that game.
"The sports science people are advising me not to use the players from the World Cup. Therefore new signings would become important for the Europa League."
Meanwhile, Barcelona captain Carles Puyol is convinced Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas will move to the Nou Camp - even if the Spanish champions have to wait another 12 months to seal the deal.
Puyol spent the last six weeks with Fabregas as the pair helped Spain win the World Cup in South Africa and the defender has no doubts that his compatriot would love to return to Barca.
Fabregas, who began his career in Catalonia before moving to Arsenal as a teenager, had talks with Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger prior to the World Cup in a bid to persuade the Gunners to let him leave.
Wenger remains adamant Arsenal will not sell their prize asset and there is no sign of the deal progressing at present, but Puyol still expects Fabregas to get his wish eventually.
"Cesc is a really nice guy and desperate to become a Barcelona player," Puyol told the Daily Star on Sunday.
"But he is not the sort of player to be ruthless and start using the media to get him the move that he wants.
"There are many players who would try all sorts of tricks to make it impossible to ever play for Arsenal again but that is not his style.
"I think Arsenal need to respect his class and show the same class by giving the guy who has given so much to them the move that he and his family want.
"He isn't just being deprived of moving to the best club in the world. More importantly, he is being deprived of coming home." Puyol believes it is Arsenal's failure to win silverware for the last five years that has convinced Fabregas now is the time to quit the Premier League club.
"He has tried everything to win trophies at Arsenal and when he sees the success so many of his Spanish team-mates are having at Barcelona, it's only natural that he should want to be a part of that," Puyol said.
"He is the future of Barcelona and Arsenal can't do anything to stop that. I have just spent six weeks with him and there is only one club he wants to be at.
"The worst-case scenario is that we have to wait another 12 months for him to join us - but Arsenal, Barcelona and Cesc know that is the very worst-case scenario." Puyol's comments come 24 hours after Wenger attempted to draw a line under the affair.
"He's such an important player for us, he's our captain and we want to keep him," said Wenger. "That's why we're not listening to any offers," he said.
But reports from Spain suggested Barcelona president Sandro Rosell was planning to head to London on Tuesday in a bid to unblock what is being referred to as 'Operation Fabregas'.
Barca are prepared to pay more than 40 million euros for the World Cup winner, says the daily Mundo Deportivo.
Fabregas "remains the objective for Barca this season even if it is not at any price," wrote the paper Sport.
Arsenal rejected a 35 million euro bid in June but that has not deterred Barcelona.
"He will arrive. Even if it is not now, it will be next year," Rosell told Spanish television on Friday.
In another development, Fabio Capello is likely to drop John Terry from the England team next season, according to Italy defender Fabio Cannavaro.
Cannavaro got an insight into Capello's ruthless style of management when he worked with the Italian at Real Madrid and the Juventus star is convinced Terry is in severe danger of losing his England place after his controversial comments at the World Cup.
Earlier this year Capello had stripped Terry of the captaincy following revelations about the Chelsea player's affair with the ex-partner of former teammate Wayne Bridge.
And Capello was further angered when Terry used a press conference during the World Cup to claim that he was ready to confront the Italian over his tactics and team selection.
Terry was forced to back down after Capello called his comments a "big mistake" but he gave a poor performance as England slumped to a 4-1 second round defeat against Germany.
Cannavaro is convinced Capello will make changes for the 2012 European Championship qualifying campaign, with Terry the most likely to lose his place.
"My thoughts are that John Terry won't be on the team sheet," Cannavaro told the Daily Star Sunday.
"You don't cross Fabio and he won't want anybody disrupting his tournament again.
"It was absolutely the correct decision for the English FA to keep Fabio on. He can make this England team his own now - and I would actually make them the favorites for Euro 2012.
"When he joined Real Madrid he brought a lot of players in the first season like myself and Ruud van Nistelrooy and the result was instant success but internationally it takes time to build your own team.
"I don't want to speak for Fabio but I'd be surprised if more than five of the players who started against Germany start the opening game of Euro 2012.
"For me, the only two players that can be guaranteed to start in 2012 are Ashley Cole and Wayne Rooney.
"If Fabio gets rid of egos, I think England will see exactly why it was a good decision to keep him on."
In Nairobi, Real Madrid's new coach Jose Mourinho sought the assistance of Kenyan jujumen to help him succeed in his tough new job with the Spanish giants, one of the men said on Sunday.
Mourinho, who spent a three-week holiday in Kenya with his family this month, met with the four men during his last days in the paradise resort region of Ukunda, on the south coast.
"We met him through an intermediary in a secret location because he did not want the media to know. He was driven to the place in a tourist's van accompanied by his wife," said Mzee Makthub, a reputed Mombasa medicineman, who has acted as a consultant to many politicians and football officials.
Makthub added: "He asked us to help him succeed in his new job. Of course everyone who is undertaking a new assignment, even the politicians always seek that external assistance.
"Mourinho said he was taking a tough assignment at Real Madrid and he wanted to earn the respect of the people he was going to work with." The 47-year-old Mourinho refused to have his photograph taken or grant interviews with reporters during his Kenyan visit, which included a stay in the famed Masai Mara game park.
He flew back to Europe last Sunday, only four days before he arrived at Real Madrid on a four-year contract after leading Italian club, Inter Milan to a historic treble last season.
