Ashley Cole was hit with a Football Association misconduct charge on Monday after the Chelsea star's foul-mouthed Twitter rant at the English game's governing body.

Cole called the FA a "bunch of twats" after having his evidence questioned by the organisation's disciplinary commission conducting an investigation into claims that his Chelsea team-mate John Terry racially abused QPR defender Anton Ferdinand.

The England left-back later deleted the tweet but only after it was re-tweeted more than 19,000 times, and then made a full apology.

But that did not stop the FA taking action, in addition to disciplinary proceedings already taken by his club.

A statement on the FA's website said: "Chelsea FC's Ashley Cole has been charged by The FA in relation to a Twitter comment which was improper and/or brought the game into disrepute."

Cole, who is in England's squad for Friday's World Cup qualifier against San Marino at Wembley, has until 1500GMT on Thursday to respond to the charge.