Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has been charged by with improper conduct for Twitter comments regarding Chelsea full-back Ashley Cole.

The Football Association was alerted to comments made on Twitter by a user on the social network site, who described Cole as a 'choc ice', which is deemed to mean 'white on the inside, black on the outside'.

"The FA has today charged Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand with improper conduct in relation to comments posted on Twitter," read a statement from the FA.

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

Ferdinand has until 4pm on Thursday to respond to the charge.