John Terry stripped of England captaincy: Report

John Terry has been stripped of the England captaincy, British media reported on Friday.

The 31-year-old Chelsea centre back is awaiting trial after pleading not guilty on Wednesday to a charge of racially abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand during a Premier League match in October.

The English FA declined to make an official comment when contacted by Reuters.

The trial date has been set for July 9 - eight days after the end of the Euro 2012 championship.

It will be the second time that Terry has been stripped of the captaincy of the national team in two years. He has played for England 67 times, 34 of them as captain and scored six goals.

He was first relieved of the armband by England manager Fabio Capello in February 2010 following allegations of an extra-marital affair, and re-instated as captain last year.

The Italian has so far stood by his skipper, maintaining that Terry is innocent until proven guilty and that he should be free to select him as he wishes.

England's next match is a friendly against Netherlands at Wembley on February 29. They then face Norway and Belgium in other warm-up matches before the Euros begin in June in which they face France, Sweden and Ukraine in their opening group phase matches.