Stuart Pearce made the interim coach of England

Stuart Pearce will manage England in their friendly international against the Netherlands on February 29, Football Association (FA) chairman David Bernstein said on Thursday.

Pearce, the England Under-21 manager, was given temporary control of the senior side for the match against the Dutch at Wembley following Fabio Capello's resignation as England manager on Wednesday.

Capello quit just four months before the start of Euro 2012 following the FA's decision to strip John Terry of the England captaincy ahead of the Chelsea defender's trial on charges of racially abusing QPR's Anton Ferdinand, which is due to take place after the tournament in Poland and Ukraine.

Former England full-back Pearce, who was Capello's assistant, will take charge of the Great Britain's men's Olympic team at the 2012 Games in London.

"I can announce that Stuart Pearce will manage the England team against Holland," said Bernstein at a Wembley news conference on Thursday.

"He has huge experience outside and inside the organisation. He has been working with the under-21 team and has been working with Fabio for some time. I have got great confidence in Stuart, we will be in good hands."

"Our priority then will be to appoint a new England manager."

Bernstein added: "I want to commend Stuart Pearce. I spoke to him a little earlier and, as you might expect from Stuart, his first thought was for his country and for managing his country without any conditions at all."

"He just said, 'If you would like me to do it, I want to do it'."

"And, I must say, I was really impressed with his attitude. I would expect nothing less from him."

The England rugby team's interim coach, Stuart Lancaster, said Pearce was the "ideal person to step in".

Lancaster is in a similar position to Pearce, having been appointed on a caretaker basis for the Six Nations Championship.

The acting coach, who saw his first game in charge end in a 13-6 win away to Scotland at Murrayfield last weekend, said of Pearce: "He is the ideal person to step in because he understands the culture of the environment and when you understand the culture you have the chance to help shape it."

"It is a pretty unique situation where England football is at the moment. He is exactly the right person to step into an interim role," Lancaster added.

"The thing that will help him is that he understands the dynamic, he has been involved and he is respected by the players."

"I know him pretty well. He came and spoke to the Saxons (the England reserve side of which Lancaster was the coach) last year and he rang me last week to wish me well for the Scotland game."

"I think it is important he brings his own philosophy and his own views into solving it, even if it is for just one game."

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp, cleared of tax evasion charges on Wednesday, remains the overwhelming favourite to succeed Capello on a long-term basis.