The England captain has tweaked his back in training.
“He tweaked his back in training and he won’t be ready for Sunday,” said Ferguson.
“It is unfortunate for him that he’s going to miss a couple of games.”
Ferdinand is also likely to miss England’s friendly against Egypt at Wembley next week.
“Rio has been training great,” Ferguson added. “There have been no mishaps at all.
“But when you get these twinges you can’t take a chance.”
