Former Portsmouth academy players cautioned after racism probe

The young footballers were part of Portsmouth academy when the allegations emerged in July 2021

Two young footballers have been given police cautions after being investigated for using "discriminatory language" on a social media group chat.

The ex-Portsmouth academy players, now aged 17 and 18, were released by the club over the messages in July 2021.

Police said they had treated the matter as a "hate-related incident".

The allegations emerged three days after Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka suffered racist abuse following England's Euro 2020 exit.

The abuse aimed at the trio in the aftermath of them missing penalties in the shootout at Wembley was condemned at the time by England manager Gareth Southgate, the FA and the prime minister.

Hampshire Constabulary said the teenagers accused at Portsmouth had initially been due to appear before magistrates over "a screenshot circulating on social media depicting discriminatory language".

However, the force said the court hearing would no longer go ahead and instead the pair had been given conditional cautions.

After sacking the players last year, the club said they were "fully committed to the elimination of all forms of discrimination".