Chelsea's John Terry will not appeal against his four-match ban and 220,000-pound fine for racially insulting Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand, the player said in a statement on Thursday.
Terry, 31, was found guilty by a Football Association (FA) tribunal of using a racial slur towards Ferdinand during a Premier League match at Loftus Road in October 2011.
The centre back was acquitted in a court of law for the same offence and always maintained his innocence but apologised on Thursday for the language he used in his altercation with Ferdinand.
"After careful consideration, I have decided not to appeal against the FA judgment," Terry said in a statement.
"I want to take this opportunity to apologise to everyone for the language I used in the game against Queens Park Rangers last October.
"Although I'm disappointed with the FA judgment, I accept that the language I used, regardless of the context, is not acceptable on the football field or indeed in any walk of life."
The Chelsea captain will now miss Saturday's match against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane, as well as two matches against Manchester United and a trip to Swansea City.
Terry, whose defence was described by the FA commission that banned him as "improbable, implausible and contrived" had two weeks to study the full written reasons for the decision.
Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images
