A charge that former England Women coach Mark Sampson used racist language during a club meeting at Stevenage has been found not proven.

Sampson was charged with misconduct by the Football Association in November over the alleged incident.

But a hearing held earlier this month found the charge not proved and dismissed it.

The FA statement said: "A charge against Mark Sampson for a breach of FA Rule E3 has been found not proven by an independent Regulatory Commission.

"It was alleged that a comment made by the Stevenage FC first team coach breached FA Rule E3(1) as it was improper and/or abusive and/or insulting.

"It was further alleged that the comment also constituted an 'aggravated breach', which is defined in FA Rule E3(2), as it referenced race and/or colour and/or nationality.

"Mark Sampson denied the charge and requested a personal hearing that took place at Wembley Stadium on 9 and 10 January 2020."

Sampson was alleged to have made a racist comment during a meeting concerning transfer targets on September 2.

Stevenage chairman Phil Wallace said in a statement that the 'not proven' verdict of the commission had not come as a surprise to him.

"The 'not proven' outcome was obvious to us after a very thorough investigation of the facts four months ago and I am pleased that the panel's 17 pages of findings issued today concur with our own internal investigation conducted in September," Wallace said.

"I am delighted that Mark is now able to concentrate fully on his future and not be troubled by allegations made by former manager Dino Maamria and former coach Ali Uzunhasanoglu after they had been dismissed.

"The club have stood shoulder to shoulder with Mark because the evidence presented by those independents present at the time conflicted with the allegation.

"Our club will never tolerate racism and we implement the EFL Equality Code of Practice to manage the club and safeguard the nine key protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, but that doesn't mean we will stand idly by if we feel allegations are being used for a purpose."