Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has sparked another football race row following an incident in which Chelsea's Ashley Cole was called a 'choc ice'.

The insult, which means dark on the outside but white on the inside, is a derogatory term that is often aimed at black people who are deemed to be too keen to please white people.

Twitter user @CarltonEBanks sent Ferdinand a public message saying: "looks like Ashley Cole's going to be their choc ice. Then again he's always been a sellout. Shame on him."

The comment was referring to the testimony made by Cole during the trial of Chelsea teammate John Terry, who was found not guilty of racially abusing Rio's brother, Anton Ferdinand.

Rio replied to the tweet, seeming to endorse the insult, saying: "I hear you fella! Choc ice is classic hahahahahahha!!"

Representatives of Cole later released a statement in a bid to defuse the situation.

It read: "[Ashley Cole] wishes to make it clear that he and Rio Ferdinand are good friends and [he] has no intention of making any sort of complaint.

"Ashley appreciates that Tweeting is so quick it often results in offhand and stray comments."

Cole and Ferdinand will face each other on October 28 when United visit Stamford Bridge in the Premier League.