Juventus Women apologise for offensive tweet containing racist gesture

Juventus issued an apology after a tweet containing a racist gesture was posted from the Twitter account of their women's team on Thursday.

The tweet, which was published by @JuventusFCWomen at 8:15pm BST and removed 26 minutes later, pictured one of their players performing an offensive gesture.

The post received thousands of negative responses before the club removed it.

"We sincerely apologise that our tweet, which was not meant to cause controversy or have any racial undertones, may have offended anyone," a club statement read.

"Juventus has always been against racism and discrimination."

Juventus have won the last four women's Serie A titles, lifting the league every year since their founding in 2017 when they took over the dissolved Cuneo Calcio's sporting licence.

Additional reporting by Reuters.