Manchester United have withdrawn their appeal against the extra one-match ban the Football Association handed to Rio Ferdinand for striking out at Hull striker Craig Fagan.

Ferdinand was given an initial three-match ban for the incident, which took place during United's 4-0 win against Hull last month, before seeing the sanction extended by one game after the FA deemed the club's appeal against it to be "frivolous".

Despite this, the Premier League champions decided to appeal again – the hearing for which was scheduled for this Friday – but that was risky given that if it also failed, Ferdinand would have been forced to miss the Carling Cup final against Aston Villa on 28 February.

That, ultimately, is believed to be the reason why United have decided to back down. Ferdinand did not want to risk missing the final as it would have meant him not playing any further football from now until England's friendly against Egypt on 3 March, the first time he will captain the side since taking over from John Terry last Friday.

The 29-year-old did not want to be rusty before such an important game for him personally and, at the same time, was aware of the embarrassment a prolonged suspension would have caused the FA given his promotion to national skipper.

Ferdinand, it is also believed, had to persuade Sir Alex Ferguson to back down on the appeal with the United manager naturally more concerned about the player's availability for his side than for England.

The U-turn means Ferdinand will now only miss tomorrow's trip to Aston Villa and the trip to Everton on 20 February as part of his original suspension.