There will be an investigation into the racist abuse in Slovakia

There will be an investigation into the racist abuse suffered by the England players in the European Championship Qualifier in Slovakia on Saturday night

UEFA communications director Mike Lee has confirmed.

Lee said: ``There will be an investigation and the first part of the process is to look at the reports from the UEFA delegate at the game and the referee

``The referee's report has already been received and he does make reference to the abuse of Emile Heskey and Ashley Cole.

``We should receive the delegates report later today and on the back of that we will decide whether further investigation will be needed.

``But I think it is clear enough that it (racist abuse) occurred and we believe the delegates report will also have reference to it.''

Lee condemned the ``appalling'' treatment of Heskey and Cole but refused to speculate on what action could be taken against Slovakia until the investigation was complete.

``UEFA utterly deplores any form of racism. We are appalled at what appears to have occurred against England last night,'' said Lee.

``The purpose of the investigation is to establish facts, but the evidence so far is likely to lead to a referral to the disciplinary body.

``The second part of the inquiry will be to exactly ascertain what went on in terms of policing and the incidents between police and English supporters,'' added Lee.

``There were some ugly scenes but we need to look at exactly what went on and we cannot pre-judge.

``This will involve speaking to the Football Association, the Slovakian FA, the local police and England fans.''

``We have already spoken to the FA this morning and we will be having further discussions over the next few days.''

FA spokesman Adrian Bevington said: ``The racism is very disappointing. We raised it very strongly with UEFA in advance of the fixture.

``Throughout the game Emile Heskey and Ashley Cole suffered a torrent of racist abuse whenever they got the ball and they deserve credit for the way they conducted themselves throughout that.

``We stressed it to UEFA in advance, we had a security meeting on the morning of the game at which it was again stressed to the Slovakian authorities.

``But they still received the abuse and it is not the first time this season our players have encountered it at club level or international level, and we can't accept it so we will be taking it further with UEFA in the strongest possible manner we can.

``We spoke to UEFA at half-time about it but it continued in the second half.

"Things like that should not be possible in 2002. It was awful," said England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson. "I know all about it as I came from a club [Lazio] that had that problem and it was difficult to eradicate."

England's captain was also disturbed by the incidents. David Beckham said: ``There's things that go on outside the football pitch but I think the most disturbing part tonight was the racism directed at a couple of our players.

``I think maybe something else has got to be done now, something different, because it's not working.''

Meanwhile, a defiant Emile Heskey said: ``It was an intimidating atmosphere but sometimes you've just got to block that out and do your best on the field.

``You do hear the racial abuse. It was not one section of the ground but the whole stadium in this case.

``But you mustn't let it affect your game. You've just got to get on with doing the job in hand and the three points is maybe the best answer to it.''

The FA will has also asked UEFA to look into the manner in which the match was policed. FA Head of Communications Paul Newman said: ``On the issue of crowd control, we would question the nature of the policing as we felt they were rushing the England fans at times.

``We have some photographic evidence of the way that was done and we will be handing that to UEFA.''