Terry dropped as England captain

LONDON: John Terry has been stripped of the England captaincy following reports of an extra-marital affair with the ex-girlfriend of international team-mate Wayne Bridge, Sky News reported on Friday, citing unidentified sources.

There was no immediate official confirmation of the report, which came after Terry met England coach Fabio Capello at Football Association headquarters at Wembley.

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 said Friday that she would not be selling her story to the newspapers.