West Bromwich Albion forward Jay Rodriguez has been cleared of alleged racial abuse towards Brighton & Hove Albion defender Gaetan Bong.
Rodriguez was charged in January for allegedly using racist language towards the defender, but following a hearing on Wednesday a charge of discriminatory misconduct has been found not proven 'on the balance of probabilities' by an Independent Regulatory Commission.
Former West Brom boss Alan Pardew was thought to have given evidence in support of Rodriguez at Wembley earlier in the week, while some reports have stated that the forward also received character references from his former coaches Mauricio Pochettino and Eddie Howe.
"The FA wishes to stress that there has been no suggestion by any party involved in this case that this was a malicious or fabricated complaint," the Football Association said in a statement on Friday.
"The FA is completely satisfied that this was a complaint made in absolute good faith.
"The FA takes all allegations of discrimination extremely seriously and continues to encourage all participants who believe they have been the subject of or witness to discriminatory abuse to report this through the appropriate channels.
"The FA would like to express its full thanks to all parties for their full cooperation during the disciplinary process."
Rodriguez would have faced a minimum five-game ban had the FA decided to uphold the charge.
Christopher Dodd
