The Daily Mail quotes "insiders" as saying that the event held at London’s former Olympic Stadium on July 14 and15 - the same weekend as the FIFA World Cup final and Wimbledon finals – has cost UK Athletics "in excess of £1million".

Senior officials are said to be waiting for the annual accounts to offer confirmation.

What was billed as the inaugural Athletics World Cup involved eight of the top nations, but the level of competition was patchy, with numerous top athletes avoiding the event.

The event, exclusively broadcast by Sky Sports, was pioneered by Niels de Vos, who quite as UK Athletics chief executive last month, and the now beleaguered UK Atthletics chairman Richard Bowker.

UK Athletics is currently embroiled in a row with England Athletics amid calls for Bowker, who replaced Ed Warner last year, to stand down.

The London Stadium, which has a capacity of 50,000, was more than half full for the first day of action, although the crowd was smaller on the second day.

Highlights of the fast-paced and strongly publicised event included a hammer throw of 78.74 metres by Poland’s world and Olympic champion Anita Wlodarczyk and a men’s long jump victory by world champion Luvo Manyonga of South Africa with 8.51m.

But losses are thought to have been incurred through a combination of scheduling difficulties, poor ticket sales, issues with major sportswear manufacturers, a lack of appearance money and chaos over travel plans for the athletes.

Friction between Adidas and Nike meant the Athletics World Cup could not gain the contractual dispensation major events secure enabling athletes sponsored by one company to wear kit of another while competing for their country.

Adidas-sponsored athletes were told they would not receive bonuses for competing, which had a significant effect on the quality of athletes taking part.

Leading British sprinters Dina Asher-Smith and Reece Prescod competed in the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Diamond League event in Rabat on the eve of the World Cup rather than running in London.

Others to miss the World Cup were Britons Laura Muir and Zharnel Hughes and the world indoor 60m champion and world record holder, Christian Coleman of the United States.

At the time de Vos dismissed concerns over ticket sales and scheduling, commenting: "It doesn’t concern me.

"We always knew that a couple of athletes wouldn’t be able to make it because they had signed contracts for Diamond League events.

"But the overall quality is going to be astonishing.

"It’s pushing 30,000 for the Saturday and a little less on the Sunday."

The World Cup was organised outside official IAAF structures, although the international governing body, which staged its own IAAF Continental Cup event in Ostrava in September, expressed broad support for the initiative.

Meanwhile, Bowker is involved in an ongoing dispute following calls led by England Athletics chair Myra Nimmo for him to stand down or be removed.

Bowker and the UK Athletic Board want to streamline the governing body and England Athletics, which are both based in Birmingham, with the possible loss of up to 40 jobs.

Nimmo, meanwhile, has received a strongly-worded email from Nick Bitel, chairman of Sport England, warning her that a sport "consumed by in-fighting" risked having its funding - England Athletics received £7.3 million ($9.5 million/€8.31 million) a year - suspended.

"As I said in our call, at Sport England we have a substantial concerns that a sport that is consumed by in-fighting is not one that is capable of devoting its time and attention to matters for which we fund it," Bitel’s email read.

"Unfortunately we have seen this on a number of occasions and we will do all that we can to ensure that this does not happen to athletics.

"I would also mention that when we commissioned an independent report into another sport in which the members got rid of its chairman with undue haste, one of its findings was that process adopted by the members was unacceptable from a governance perspective and condemned it in very strong terms.

"It led to our funding being suspended in that case.

"I don't doubt that there is real unhappiness on the part of you and your board with the way in which Richard has approached his ideas for change.

"But I don't think that the solution is to try and remove him without a serious attempt totry and resolve matters in conjunction with your main funder.

"I do therefore urge you to ensure that before any further steps are taken that might lead to any more damage to the image of the sport, there is a period of calm reflection. I and Sport England together with UK Sport want to do what we can to build bridges."