After a month-long investigation, the Football Association released its charge Wednesday against Liverpool’s Luis Suarez. Referring to an altercation that took place on Oct. 15 during Liverpool’s match against Manchester United, the FA reported that, “it is alleged that Suarez used abusive and/or insulting words and/or behavior towards Manchester United’s Patrice Evra contrary to FA rules,” according to a statement. “It is further alleged that this included a reference to the ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race of Patrice Evra,” the statement continued. Evra had raised the issue to the French TV station Canal Plus immediately following the October match, claiming that Suarez had used racist insults toward him “at least 10 times” during the match. The FA’s statement did not include what sort of sanctions that Suarez could face if he is found guilty.

Liverpool has issued a statement saying that the 24-year-old striker will plead not guilty.

“We will discuss the matter fully with him when he returns from international duty, but he will plead not guilty to the charge and we expect him to request a personal hearing. Luis remains determined to clear his name of the allegation made against him by Patrice Evra,” Liverpool said in a statement. “The club remains fully supportive of Luis in this matter.”

In light of these allegations and other ongoing investigations involving racial slurs, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has experienced some back lash after he offered his own ideas on how players should handle racism on the field. In two separate interviews this week, Blatter said that racism on the field of play is not a problem and suggested that a handshake was an ideal way to settle any issues. Realizing that his comments had been misunderstood by the soccer community as a whole, Blatter and FIFA later released a statement that said: “I would like to make it very clear, I am committed to the fight against racism and any type of discrimination in football and in society. I also know that racism unfortunately continues to exist in football, and I have never denied this. I strongly believe that we should continue to fight all together against racism on and off the field of play, in order to eradicate this plague.”

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