The English Football Association has condemned the racist attacks launched against Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, and Jadon Sancho after the trio missed their penalties as England lost to Italy at the Euro 2020 final played on Sunday.

The social media pages of Rashford, Sancho and Saka, were bombarded with racist comments.

The FA said it was appalled by the racist abuse targeted at the players on social media.

“The FA strongly condemns all forms of discrimination and is appalled by the online racism that has been aimed at some of our England players on social media.

“We could not be clearer that anyone behind such disgusting behaviour is not welcome in following the team. We will do all we can to support the players affected while urging the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible,” it said.

The FA also vowed to prosecute those involved in the racist abuse but said it wanted the government to do more to tackle racism.

“We will continue to do everything we can to stamp discrimination out of the game, but we implore government to act quickly and bring in the appropriate legislation so this abuse has real life consequences.

“Social media companies need to step up and take accountability and action to ban abusers from their platforms, gather evidence that can lead to prosecution and support making their platforms free from this type of abhorrent abuse,” the statement further noted.

Racism against black people in sports, particularly football, in the UK has become a scourge.

Several efforts by footballers to stamp it out have not resulted in much success as fans continue to hurl racist slurs at black players even when they take a knee against racism.