England winger Nikita Parris apologised to former teammate Eniola Aluko on Wednesday for her public display of support to former England coach Mark Sampson.

The moment occurred when Parris scored for England against Russia during a match in 2017. Sampson had been accused of racially abusing Aluko and another player, Drew Spence, but Parris ran to Sampson and celebrated the goal with her boss.

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An inquiry into Sampson’s comments at the time ruled that he was guilty and was sacked from his position a day after Parris’ celebration.

Parris, who plays for Lyon in France, wrote an open letter to Aluko and posted it on her twitter page. It read: “Eni, I am sorry that my thoughtless actions caused you hurt.

“At the time I focused more on what I believed was showing unity when really it did nothing of the sort, it showed a lack of empathy, understanding and ignorance by singling out a voice who needed an ear to listen and a support system to help.

“I am now able to understand how I have been part of the problem which I aim to fight and eradicate.

“I am a proud black woman, I understand I have a social responsibility to help create change through my platform.”

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Immediately after the incident, Aluko called the celebration “naive”. She also said: “Some of them may have a special relationship with Mark Sampson and they have every right [to celebrate with him], but I think about the sensitivity at that time, and it wasn’t respectful.”

The FA sacked Sampson for what they described as “clear evidence of inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour by a coach”.

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They also apologised to Aluko and Spence, ruling that Sampson “made comments that were “discriminatory on the grounds of race”.

After England, Sampson went on to coach at League Two club Stevenage in July 2019. In September he was accused of using racist language in a coaches’ meeting. He was charged by the FA in November of that year, but in January 2020 that charge was dismissed out of court with an FA independent commission dismissing the claim.

New Arsenal defender Stephan Lichtsteiner has been charged by FIFA for a similar goal celebration to that of Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka during their 2-1 against Serbia on Friday.

The 34-year-old could face a two match ban alongside his teammates after they formed an Eagle with their hands – the symbol of the Albanian flag.

Both Shaqiri and Xhaka have Albanian or Kosovan roots and consequently have a difficult relationship with Serbia who do not accept Kosovo as a nation.

A statement via the Richard Conway said: “The FIFA Disciplinary Committe has opened disciplinary proceedings against the Swiss player Stephan Lichtsteiner for a goal celebration during the match Switzerland vs Serbia. In relation to the same match, disciplinary proceedings have been opened against the President of the Serbian FA Slavisa Kokeza as well as the national coach Mladen Krstajic for statements made in the aftermath of the said match.

The Serbian football association lodged a formal complaint over Shaqiri and Xhaka’s celebrations on Saturday and FIFA later confirmed that both would be investigated.

Secretary general Jovan Surbatovic has raised his grievances to the world governing body over falling foul of regulations against ‘provoking the general public’ based on “the case of the boots, a question of several controversial flags and the celebration of both goals for Switzerland”, according to the Guardian.

It seems the Swiss players could have fallen foul of ‘Provoking the public’ and the suggested punishment is ‘Anyone who provokes the general public during a match will be suspended for two matches and sanctioned with a minimum fine of CHF 5,000.’

The bans would not affect the availability of either player at club level.

Full-back Lichtsteiner defended the celebration of his compatriots after the match.

He said: “”We had a lot of pressure, it was not an easy game for us.

“We have a lot of Albanians, so there is a lot of history between Serbia and Albania. It was a very tough game for them mentally.

“It was good. Why not? This is the history for them. The war between them was so difficult. I spoke to the father of one of our players who is Albanian, and he told me about this history. This is more than football. This is more than football because they have this period, this war that gave them both big problems.

“I understand them. I think it’s normal, it’s part of their life. There was also big provocation ahead of the game from them [Serbia], so I think it’s normal.”

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