Di Matteo refuses to confirm John Terry's role at Chelsea

Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo refused to confirm whether John Terry will remain as club captain with his four-match ban for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand due to start with Saturday's match against Tottenham Hotspur.

Terry was banned for four matches and fined 220,000 pounds ($354,900) after an independent Football Association commission found him guilty of abusing Ferdinand last year. Terry apologised for the insult on Thursday and said he would not appeal against the ban.

Chelsea said on Thursday that they had taken disciplinary action against the defender but Di Matteo would not elaborate on Friday. "We do not discuss publicly the disciplinary matters we take against our players. You will have to wait and see," Di Matteo told reporters at his pre-match briefing at their training ground at Cobham, south of London.

"They are internal matters, the action we take against our players, and we are not going to discuss it." Although he is banned from domestic matches, Terry can play in the Champions League. Asked if he would captain the side against Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine next week, Di Matteo said: "you will have to wait and see."

(Reporting by Mike Collett, editing by Justin Palmer)