Raheem Sterling has sent a powerful message after suffering racist abuse in England's 4-0 win against Hungary on Thursday.
The Manchester City winger opened the scoring in Budapest and was pelted with vile chants as well as missiles thrown from the crowd inside the Puskas Arena during the Group I World Cup qualifier.
Jude Bellingham was also subject to racist chanting while warming up and Fifa have opened disciplinary proceedings following the abhorrent scenes in Budapest.
Sterling has been the subject of racial abuse throughout his career and the 26-year-old has often been praised for his strength to continue performing amid the tirade of abuse from home and abroad.
On Friday, Sterling tweeted an image of him celebrating with the caption "HEADSTRONG."
Shortly following his tweet, Fifa made their announcement in a statement.
"Following analysis of the match reports, Fifa has opened disciplinary proceedings concerning the incidents last night at the game Hungary-England," it read.
"Once again, Fifa would like to state that our position remains firm and resolute in rejecting any form of racism and violence as well as any other form of discrimination or abuse.
"We have a very clear zero tolerance stance against such abhorrent behaviours in football."
Sterling, who netted before Harry Kane, Harry Maguire and Declan Rice got on the scoresheet, took his shirt off during his celebration to a show a tribute that read: "Love you forever Steffie Gregg."
Gregg was a childhood friend of the Three Lions star and reportedly died at the age of 26 due to Covid-19-related issues.
Having once again suffered abuse like during the European Championships its qualifiers, there was a groundswell of supporting for Sterling and co, who had taken the knee before kick-off, being met with boos around the ground.
The Football Association said in a statement on Thursday evening: "It is extremely disappointing to hear reports of discriminatory actions towards some of our England players.
"We will be asking FIFA to investigate the matter. We continue to support the players and staff in our collective determination to highlight and tackle discrimination in all its forms."
Speaking post-match, manager Gareth Southgate stated: "Everybody knows what we stand for as a team and that's completely unacceptable. Everything has been reported to UEFA and we have to see what happens from there.
"There's no more that this group of players - and all the staff in fairness - could do in the fight against racism. We're trying to uphold our part of it and other people have got to take the right action to try and make progress.
"I haven't [spoken to the players yet] because I wasn't aware of it when I was in the dressing room," he revealed.
"But I know our head of security has spoken with the players and has taken their statements. We'll deal with it in the right way now and through the right channels."
