John Terry has been sacked as captain of the England football team following a short meeting with coach Fabio Capello.
The Chelsea defender and skipper, who was given the captain's armband of the national team in 2006, has been subject to intense media speculation following allegations about his private life.
Capello announced the sacking in a stating on the Football Association website, saying that after much thought, he decided it would be best to take the captaincy away from Terry.
The Italian says that despite Terry's "extremely positive behaviour" as captain, he has to take into account other considerations and what is best for all of the England squad.
Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand's expected to take over the captaincy.
Terry had been summoned to meet Capello after a week of intense scrutiny of the Chelsea defender's suitability to lead England at the World Cup in South Africa in June and July.
Capello had been under pressure to strip Terry of the captaincy from sections of the media that have spent the last week lambasting the married father of two over his alleged infidelity with Vanessa Perroncel, an underwear model who has a son with Bridge but is now estranged from the Manchester City left-back.
Perroncel says she won't be selling her story to the newspapers.
