Rio Ferdinand will face one of the toughest battles of his footballing career today when he appears at Bolton's Reebok Stadium.
Ferdinand must answer a English FA misconduct charge into his failure to take a drugs test at Manchester United's Carrington training ground on September 23rd.
The case is expected to last two days, with the verdict being delivered by Barry Bright, chairman of the three-man disciplinary committee.
According to the FA, this is how the process will work. First the hearing commences today at 11 a.m. (Irish time) at Bolton's Reebok Stadium, where the independent three-man commission will be headed by Barry Bright, Kent FA representative on the FA Council.
None of the commission are employed by the FA and none have been involved in the gathering of evidence which forms the case against Ferdinand.
The FA's case against Ferdinand will be presented first. It has been prepared by Steve Barrow, head of the FA's compliance unit, and will be submitted by Mark Gay.
Ferdinand's legal team, led by Ronald Thwaites, will then make the case for the defence. The hearing can continue as late today and Friday as the commission chooses.
When the three men have heard the cases for both prosecution and defence, they will retire to consider their verdict.
When this is announced to the parties, Ferdinand's team then has 14 days to appeal against any punishment.