The British Government is to call on Uefa to take action following alleged racism during England Under-21's win over Serbia.

England's progress to the semi-finals of the European Championships in Holland was marred by fans chanting at Nedum Onuoha, and the Football Association have also complained to Uefa about racist abuse from Serbian players.

Sports Minister Richard Caborn will be writing to the Serbian government to expressed his "disgust" at the racism.

"I am saddened and extremely disappointed by the racism that some of our young England players were subjected to last night," Caborn said. "No player should have to tolerate such abuse which brings disgrace to the game.

"I urge Uefa to investigate the matter immediately. I shall also be writing to my Serbian counterpart to express my disgust at what happened.

"Possible sanctions against those teams whose supporters or players perpetrate racism will be looked at as part of the European white paper on sport."

The matter will not be discussed until the meeting of the control and disciplinary body on July 12th, Uefa have confirmed. The conduct of England's players will also be looked at.

Anti-racism campaigners believe Uefa should treat the matter with greater urgency.

A spokesman from Kick It Out said: "Something needs to be put in place where a decision can be made quickly, to support the pro-active work Uefa have been doing.

"In cases like this where action cannot be taken quickly they face being criticised by people.

"We would urge Uefa to take the harshest punishment possible to them, which within their protocol would be a large financial fine."

Uefa cannot kick Serbia out of the competition, even if the matter was looked into earlier.

Uefa were forced to make an impromptu anti-racism announcement while play was still going on in Nijmegen to stop the chanting at Onuoha.

The trouble continued on the pitch and Serbia players were furious when Matt Derbyshire scored while one of their players was down injured, sparking a mass brawl that carried on in the tunnel after the final whistle.

Arsenal full-back Justin Hoyte is understood to be a player that was abused in the tunnel, and there were also reports of Serbia players spitting.

An FA spokesman said: "We take racism and other forms of discriminatory behaviour extremely seriously and have asked Uefa to investigate these incidents as a matter of urgency. We will of course co-operate fully with any investigation."