The charge is thought to relate to the aftermath of John Terry's race trial (in which he was acquitted), when Ferdinand quoted a tweet calling Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole, who was a witness for the defence, a 'choc-ice'.

The term was in reference to Cole's testimony in court, when he said he did not hear Terry make a racist comment to Anton Ferdinand, brother of Rio, at the match last October at Loftus Road.

Ferdinand later defended his remark on Twitter, stating: "What I said yesterday is not a racist term. Its a type of slang/term used by many for someone who is being fake. So there."

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

Ferdinand will have until August 2 (Thursday) to answer the charge.

Terry was also charged by the FA with improper conduct last week for the original comments made to Anton Ferdinand, which he immediately stated he would contest.