Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand is in danger of being punished by the Football Association following his jibe at Chelsea full-back Ashley Cole.
The 33-year-old sparked controversy after agreeing with a Twitter user that Cole was a "choc ice", which can be used as a term to describe a black person who is keen to please white people.
It is understood that the English governing body are pondering whether to take action against the centre-back, who highlighted the comment on the social network site after Cole appeared for the defence in a trial, where John Terry was acquitted of racially abusing Ferdinand's brother, Anton.
Ferdinand defended his comments by stating that "choc ice" refers to someone who is "fake".