Police are investigating alleged racist comments made on Twitter involving Chelsea player Ashley Cole and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand.

Cole was labeled "choc-ice" by a Twitter user thought to live in Britain. Cole gave evidence at teammate John Terry's racism trial, which cleared Terry of abusing Ferdinand's younger brother Anton during a Premier League game. Choc-ice is a vanilla ice cream bar covered by chocolate and the term is understood to have racial connotations meaning a person is "black on the outside" and "white on the inside."

"Looks like Ashley Cole's going to be their choc ice," said a tweet directed to Rio Ferdinand, who replied with: "I hear you fella! Choc ice is classic! hahahahahahha!!"

Rio Ferdinand defended his tweet: "What I said yesterday is not a racist term. It's a type of slang/term used by many for someone who is being fake. So there."