By Agencies

Share Link:

Chelsea captain John Terry was charged by the English Football Association on Friday with racially abusing an opponent, two weeks after he was cleared by a court of the same offence.

The FA said it considered the evidence from the trial before charging Terry with directing abuse at Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand during a Premier League match last October.

"I deny the charge and I will be requesting the opportunity to attend the commission for a personal hearing,'' Terry said.

The FA alleges Terry "used abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour... (and) included a reference to the ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race of Anton Ferdinand.''

In court, prosecutors claimed that Terry snapped in response to insults about an alleged extramarital affair and bellowed "(expletive) black (expletive)'' at Ferdinand.

But Terry said he only used the offensive term sarcastically to counter the obscenity he claims Ferdinand was accusing him of using.

The magistrate who ruled on the case at Westminster Magistrates' Court said in his judgment that Terry's explanation was "certainly under the cold light of forensic examination, unlikely.''

But he found Terry not guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence after deciding it was "impossible'' to be sure what the defender said.

The FA, which has already interviewed Ferdinand and Terry, had to suspend its investigation into October's west London derby when the police probe kicked in.

Liverpool striker Luis Suarez was banned for eight matches last season for racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra during another Premier League match in October