Women's World Cup champs welcomed home amid furore over 'sexist' tweet

A tweet from the official England Football team's account, following the success of the English team at the Women's World Cup has caused outrage online.

England's Ellen White hugs a team mate as they arrive back at Heathrow Airport after the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada. Source: AAP

In the now-deleted tweet, the English team congratulated the Lionesses after they made it to the semifinals of the tournament, saying:

"Our Lionesses go back to being mothers, partners and daughters today, but they have taken on another title- heroes."

The tweet from the English Football team's twitter account that has caused outrage. Source: Twitter

The tweet has angered the online community, with one user commenting "that's the last time @england lets a time traveler from the 1800s run their social media accounts."

Another user wrote "only thing worse would be if you asked them to go back to the kitchens too."

The English Football Association later responded to the criticism, telling the BBC, "the full story was a wider homecoming feature attempting to reflect the many personal stories within the playing squad."

The Press Association cites a Football Association source saying the tweet had been "unfortunately phrased".