The original letter from campaigners, published in February, also called for all clubs to sign a charter to tackle gender-based violence, setting out minimum standards for policies and action to tackle unacceptable behaviour; to adopt clear sexual misconduct policies and impose appropriate consequences and disciplinary action on players; and for academies to introduce prevention programmes for young people.

In the letter, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition Andrea Simon wrote: “From the scale of cases we are seeing, it’s clear that football needs to address its systemic and cultural issues with violence against women. Rape and abuse are rooted in women’s inequality and footballers hold a particular position of power and influence and are commonly looked at as role models by boys and men.

“We’ve seen the impact of campaigns to keep racism out of football in shaping fans’ attitudes and behaviours – and that work is not done, but we also need for the sport to start meaningfully addressing the issues of sexual violence and domestic abuse.”

Premier League football players will now have mandatory sexual consent training