Raheem Sterling Celebration Paid Tribute To Influencer Steffie Gregg Who Died After Contracting Covid-19

After scoring against Hungary, Raheem Sterling paid tribute to influencer Steffie Gregg - who passed away after contracting Covid-19.

Sterling opened the scoring in England's 4-0 World Cup Qualifier victory yesterday (2 September), and in celebration, took off his shirt to reveal a top bearing the message 'Love you forever Steffie Gregg'.

Gregg was a Jamaica-based influencer who died earlier this week.

Instagram

The 26-year-old - who had more than 39,000 followers on Instagram - was the daughter of former race car driver Gary Gregg and is understood to have been childhood friends with Sterling.

Her uncle Rvssian, a Jamaican record producer, announced the news of her death this week.

He wrote on Instagram: "I feel helpless. My little Steffie @svg876_ I feel I failed you and couldn't protect you from this.. Covid is REAL, You don't know until it hits home."

It is understood that she had an underlying health condition.

PA

Sterling was pelted with cups from the crowd as he celebrated his goal, and players were also subjected to racist abuse, including monkey chants.

The team was jeered before the game had even began when players took the knee before kick-off.

Boris Johnson condemned the behaviour of the Hungarian fans.

He tweeted: "It is completely unacceptable that @England players were racially abused in Hungary last night.

"I urge @FIFAcom to take strong action against those responsible to ensure that this kind of disgraceful behaviour is eradicated from the game for good."

PA

Fifa said 'adequate action' would be taken.

The world governing body said in a statement: "First and foremost, Fifa strongly rejects any form of racism and violence and has a very clear zero-tolerance stance for such behaviour in football.

"Fifa will take adequate actions as soon as it receives match reports concerning yesterday's Hungary-England game."

The Football Association said in a statement: "It is extremely disappointing to hear reports of discriminatory actions towards some of our England players.

"We will be asking Fifa to investigate the matter.

"We continue to support the players and staff in our collective determination to highlight and tackle discrimination in all its forms."

Topics: SPORT, Influencer, Football, England, No-Article-Matching

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey