Former England captain Rio Ferdinand has been charged by the Football Association for misconduct for a comment which "included a reference to gender" made on Twitter.
The 35-year-old QPR defender has until October 21 to respond to the charge, which was announced on Tuesday, in a disciplinary case which could have numerous repercussions.
Ferdinand, who made 81 appearances for England, the last in June 2011, is a member of FA chairman Greg Dyke's commission looking at how to improve English football.
The former Manchester United center-back was also considered, by the FA, as a possible FIFA vice-president candidate until David Gill, formerly United's chief executive, opted to stand.
The FA did not specify which message had provoked its ire, but it appears it has taken more than six weeks to charge Ferdinand based on a tweet sent on September 1 which many regarded as offensive at the time.
It read: "@ManCunian56: @rioferdy5 @matiousmarston Maybe QPR will sign a good CB they need one" > get ya mum in, plays the field well son! #sket"
A 'sket' is a "a promiscuous girl or woman" according to Collins English Dictionary.
Ferdinand, who has 5.9 million followers on Twitter, has sent more than 14,000 tweets on the social networking site and has been an outspoken pundit for the BBC and BT Sport.
Looks like this is the tweet that has led to Rio Ferdinand being charged by the FA pic.twitter.com/zC0vOiCsSR
— Ian Prior (@ianprior) October 14, 2014
"It is alleged the comment posted on his twitter account was abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting and/or improper," an FA statement read.
"It is further alleged that this breach is aggravated pursuant to FA Rule E3(2) as it included a reference to gender.
"The player has until Tuesday, October 21 2014 to respond to the charge."
