Crystal Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey has been charged by the Football Association (FA) over a social media post in which he made an alleged Nazi salute.
Wales international Hennessey denied deliberately making the gesture in a photograph on Instagram posted by his Palace team-mate Max Meyer.
But the FA confirmed on Wednesday that Hennessey has been charged with bringing the game into disrepute.
"Crystal Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey has been charged with a breach of FA Rule E3," an FA statement said.
"It is alleged that a gesture he made, which was captured by a photograph and posted on social media, breached Rule E3[1] as it was abusive and/or insulting and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute.
"It is further alleged that this constitutes an 'Aggravated Breach', which is defined in Rule E3[2], as it included reference to ethnic origin and/or race and/or religion and/or belief."
Yesterday evening I had a meal with my team mates and we had a group photograph. I waved and shouted at the person taking the picture to get on with it and at the same time put my hand over my mouth to make the sound carry. It’s been brought to my attention that frozen in a— Wayne Hennessey (@WayneHennessey1) January 6, 2019
moment by the camera this looks like I am making a completely inappropriate type of salute. I can assure everyone I would never ever do that and any resemblance to that kind of gesture is absolutely coincidental. Love and peace Wayne— Wayne Hennessey (@WayneHennessey1) January 6, 2019
Hennessey, who has made 17 Premier League appearances for Palace this season, has been given until January 31 to respond to the FA charge.
‘Scoring in a World Cup is like winning the title – can you imagine millions of people celebrating something you did? It’s insane and made me very proud’: Brazil legend explains how much 2002 goal meant to him
'He already had the ability but didn’t use it because he was afraid to shoot – I said, "You’re a player who has to decide games – you have to take risks, mate"': Liverpool star was forced to become confident by team-mates
