Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand charged by FA over Twitter comments

"The allegation is that the player acted in a way which was improper and/or bought the game into disrepute by making comments which included a reference to ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race," the FA said in its statement.

Ferdinand has until 4pm on 2 August to respond to the charge.

In the aftermath of John Terry's trial this month, when Terry was acquitted of racially abusing Ferdinand's brother Anton, the United defender responded to a tweet that characterised the Chelsea defender Ashley Cole, who was a defence witness in the trial, as a "choc-ice".

The term is commonly understood to mean 'black on the outside, white on the inside'. It was a reference to Cole's testimony in court, in which he said he did not hear Terry make a racist remark to Anton Ferdinand during the match at Loftus Road in October.

Later Rio Ferdinand defended his Twitter remark with another tweet: "What I said yesterday is not a racist term," he tweeted. "Its a type of slang/term used by many for someone who is being fake. So there."

Last week Terry was charged with improper conduct by the FA for the comments he made to Anton Ferdinand, a charge he has vowed to contest, the Guardian reports.