Ferdinand to be Left Out of England’s Euro 2012 Squad

Rio Ferdinand, captained England before his injury

England manager, Roy Hodgson is set to omit Rio Ferdinand from his squad for Euro 2012 while fellow defender Kyle Walker misses out through injury.

Ferdinand, 33, has not played for the national side since the 2-2 draw with Switzerland in June last year, reports the BBC.

The 23-man squad will be named at 13:00 BST on Wednesday.

It is understood that Chelsea defender, John Terry, who was stripped of the captaincy for a second time in February, will be included.

Former England captain, Ferdinand has been hampered by back problems in recent years but made 30 Premier League appearances this season, the most times he has featured in a campaign since 2007-08.

But his club manager Sir Alex Ferguson said recently: "You play something like a game every four days. Rio Ferdinand couldn't do that."

Ferdinand's situation was also complicated by an ongoing issue involving Terry.

Chelsea defender Terry lost the England captaincy in February after allegations that he racially abused Ferdinand's brother, QPR defender Anton. He denies the charges and is scheduled to stand trial in July.

Former coach, Fabio Capello publicly criticised the Football Association's decision to remove Terry of the captaincy - a turn of events that led Capello to resign.

Ferdinand, who has never played in a European Championship and won the first of 81 caps in 1997, was given the England armband in February 2010 after Terry was removed from the role for the first time following allegations about his private life.

But the United defender suffered a knee ligament injury in England's first training session in South Africa ahead of the World Cup and missed the tournament.

Ferdinand's subsequent unavailability saw Capello pass the captaincy back to Terry in March last year.

Tottenham full-back Walker, 21, won his two England caps in November last year, but sustained a toe problem in the 2-0 victory over Fulham at the weekend.

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp had initially suggested that Walker's injury was minor and that he would be fit to link up with Hodgson's squad.

Hodgson has also decided to cancel the planned training camp in Malaga and the squad will now meet up in England next week.

They head to Norway for Hodgson's first game in charge on 26 May before their final warm-up friendly against Belgium at Wembley on 2 June.

England kicks off Euro 2012 against France on 11 June and also face Sweden and Ukraine in the group phase.