Ferdinand waits to learn his fate
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Ferdinand arrives an hour early
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BOLTON, England (Reuters) -- Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand's missed drugs test hearing was adjourned on Thursday after the first day of evidence.
Ferdinand is facing an independent disciplinary commission, set up by the English FA, for "failing or refusing" to take the test at his club's training ground on September 23.
The hearing, scheduled to last two days, is taking place at Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium. A verdict is expected late on Friday afternoon.
England international Ferdinand, 25, arrived an hour before the scheduled start accompanied by solicitor and United director Maurice Watkins and Ronald Thwaites QC, who is heading the player's defence.
Watkins and Thwaites had earlier been to the training ground with the three members of the commission and Steve Barrow, head of the FA's compliance unit, to look at the site where Ferdinand's drugs test should have taken place.
All parties then assembled at the stadium in Bolton to start proceedings, with Barrow due to outline the FA's case first.
Ferdinand's defense is expected to include representations from several witnesses, including United manager Alex Ferguson.
A written character reference from England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, with the full authority of his employers -- the FA -- will also be given to the commission, which is headed by Barry Bright, the FA's most experienced disciplinary officer.
The hearing, likely to center around whether Ferdinand failed to take the test because he forgot at the time, or refused to undergo the test, is one of the highest profile cases in English football history.
Ferdinand, the world's most expensive defender who cost 30 million pounds ($53m) from Leeds in July 2002, contacted the FA after realising he had missed the test, which was taken by three of his team-mates following a training session.
He passed a test 36 hours later and has strongly denied ever using drugs.
But the FA has since excluded Ferdinand from England matches and is under pressure from soccer's world governing body FIFA to punish him.
The FA has already been criticized by the English players' union for its handling of the case and will face a strong defense of the player from United and his legal team.
