Chelsea removed Manchester City’s cloak of invincibility when they inflicted upon the champions their first Premier League defeat of the season in a 2-0 win last December but the game was overshadowed by alleged racial abuse directed at Sterling.
One fan, identified as Colin Wing, has been banned from attending games at Stamford Bridge for life, while five others have been handed temporary bans ranging from one to two years.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided not to open criminal prosecution against the culprits as a result of insufficient evidence but Chelsea continued with their own investigations and arrived at the final judgement after consulting professional lip readers.
A statement from the Premier League club issued on Tuesday read: "The club delayed reaching its decision in these cases in order to ensure that it did not prejudice the related police investigation.
"The Crown Prosecution Service has, however, recently announced that it has elected not to initiate any criminal prosecutions.
"This allowed the club to conduct its own investigation, which included seeking representations from the individuals concerned, reviewing video evidence, interviewing potential witnesses and obtaining expert opinions from two lip reading professionals. All individuals sanctioned as a result of our investigation were then offered the right to appeal and, where applicable, those appeals have been heard."
The statement continued: "We understand that this incident has been the subject of discussion amongst supporters, and the club appreciates that emotions can run high during matches. However, in this case the behaviour of all six individuals crossed the line of what is acceptable.
"Furthermore, in the case of the supporter who was found by the club to have used racially abusive language, there is no place for this behaviour at Stamford Bridge and a permanent exclusion was the appropriate sanction. Given the particular circumstances of this case, the club did not consider that attendance at an education course in return for a reduced sanction would have been appropriate."
