UEFA probing England racism claims

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LONDON, England -- Claims by two England players they were called monkeys during an under-21 match against Germany will be investigated by UEFA.

Micah Richards and Anton Ferdinand were allegedly targetted with the abuse which overshadowed England's 2-0 victory in Leverkusen on Tuesday which earned qualification for the European championships.

An English Football Association spokesman said: "We will be formally communicating with UEFA in the next couple of days."

West Ham defender Ferdinand added: "It's in the hands of the FA and I am sure they'll deal with it in the appropriate manner. I don't want to say anything at this stage."

UEFA president Lennart Johansson told BBC Radio Five Live: "This has to be investigated and it will have its consequences, that's clear. It is for the disciplinary board to decide on a punishment. I won't speculate on the outcome but racism is a very serious issue.

"I can accept that people think fines aren't enough anymore," he said. "If you try something and it has no effect then you have to look at other options."

Bayern Munich's England midfielder Owen Hargreaves said: "You'd like to give the young German players the benefit of the doubt.

"Things might be said in the heat of the match, but I would think it was a language barrier thing, more a case of them being limited in what they're trying to get across.

"I don't think they would purposely be racist, although obviously racism is still around."

Meanwhile, Germany striker Aaron Hunt has insisted that he did not direct any racist remarks towards England players.

Werder Bremen striker Hunt, whose mother is English, is allaged to be one of the players involved in the controversy.

"I did not make any racist remarks," Hunt said. "Of course there were a lot of verbal attacks from both sides in the match but things like that happen in every game."

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