The Chelsea defender will be named skipper for the friendly against Ireland in May.
Chelsea and England left-back Ashley Cole is set to be handed the captain’s armband later in the month when the national side take on Ireland in a friendly, to celebrate winning his 100th cap.
The defender earned his century of appearances for his country in a match against Brazil at Wembley in February – a fixture the Three Lions won 2-1.
The decision from the FA comes only seven months after Cole branded the organisation a ‘bunch of s**t’ on the social networking site Twitter; following their decision to fine and ban his Blues teammate John Terry for racism.
Terry was found guilty by the FA of racially abusing QPR’s Anton Ferdinand in a Premier League match in 2011 and was fined £220,000 and given a four-match ban – despite being cleared in a court of law.
Cole, who gave evidence in support of his national captain at the hearing, took to Twitter to voice his displeasure at the decision.
The 32-year-old has since apologised for his outburst, as reported in the Daily Mail, although it is still uncertain whether he will accept the invitation to play as skipper.
The former Arsenal man will be awarded with a golden cap before the match regardless of whether he is captain or not, but manager Roy Hodgson thinks it would be a nice touch if he wore the armband.
“I don’t think he regards himself as a potential [full-time] leader, but it would be a special gesture,” Hodgson was quoted in the Daily Mail.
“I will ask him, I think dialogue with the players is very important. He’s receiving his cap at Wembley, it’s something for us to think about.”
Cole is currently seventh in the all-time capped players for England with 101 appearances, one behind current midfielder Steven Gerrard and 24 off No.1 Peter Shilton.
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