Police are set to investigate the online racist abuse suffered by England stars Bukayo Saka and Jude Bellingham during Euro 2024.
Mail Sport understands the Football Association have referred a UEFA report that revealed Arsenal attacker Saka and Real Madrid midfielder Bellingham were the two players who suffered the most serious online abuse during the entire tournament in Germany.
The Online Safety Act allows the authorities to intervene into cases of online abuse, and police have now been made aware of disgusting messages Saka and Bellingham were targeted with.
The FA provided funding to police to the tune of around £25,000 to facilitate prosecutions linked to the online abuse of their players.
In the UEFA report, exclusively disclosed by Mail Sport last month, it is noted that Saka subjected to the most ‘tier one’ comments with 51, while Bellingham was targeted with 40.
Police are to investigate online racist abuse directed at Bukayo Saka and Jude Bellingham at Euro 2024
UEFA classify tier one comments as ‘being the most harmful and recognised as candidate for prosecution according to law.'
Such posts are immediately reported to platforms for removal. Racist abuse would fall under the tier 1 category.
Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji, who represents Switzerland, was third most targeted with 31 comments followed by Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku, who plays for Belgium, with 30.
Saka was also the victim of sickening racial abuse following Euro 2020 after missing a penalty in the heartbreaking shoot-out loss to Italy in the final at Wembley.
Prior to Euro 2024, Mark Roberts, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for football policing, said: ‘We were conscious after events at the Euros (2020) when there was horrific abuse of some of our black players.
‘So we responded to that, we did investigations and we were able to prosecute some people arising from that.
‘What we were very keen to do was to speak to the squad and make sure they are aware that we are committed to this, we treat it seriously and advise them how to protect themselves.
‘But equally it is better if you can deal with something in advance rather than after the event to try and explain what we can do.
‘We explained the reporting methods and that if things come in from other routes we will investigate it.’