London’s Metropolitan Police have launched a formal investigation into allegations John Terry racially abused Anton Ferdinand after spending a week "assessing" a complaint from a member of the public.
Terry, the Chelsea and England captain, has denied making a racist remark to QPR defender Ferdinand.
Police have now confirmed that their dealings with the complaint have moved on and that a formal investigation has been launched.
The Football Association is also investigating the claims Ferdinand was the subject of a racial slur by Terry during QPR's 1-0 win over Chelsea.
Terry has denied racially abusing Ferdinand insisting his own response was actually a denial.
Terry, who has had a turbulent 18 months off the pitch, could find himself losing the England captaincy for the second time in his career if he is found guilty of racially abusing a fellow footballer on the pitch.
Meanwhile, Ferdinand has been targeted with racist abuse via his Twitter account after releasing a statement saying he had "strong feelings" on the matter and backed the FA's inquiry.
This morning, Ferdinand retweeted messages of support sent to him - but also a shocking racist jibe at him from someone who appeared to be a Chelsea fan.
Ferdinand has submitted an account of his exchange with Terry to the FA, and said in a statement: "I have very strong feelings on the matter, but in the interests of fairness and not wishing to prejudice what I am sure will be a very thorough inquiry by the FA, this will be my last comment on the subject until the inquiry is concluded."
