Every senior player in the English Premier League and Football League will attend a session this season to receive guidance on what is regarded as racist or homophobic language – and what is deemed banter or acceptable jibes towards opponents.

The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) is organising the sessions, called the ‘The Senior Player Programme on Diversity and Equality’ and the union has written to the managers of all 92 clubs asking them to make sure the players attend.

The sessions will highlight what sort of language is unacceptable and encourage players to report incidents if they are either victims or witnesses of abuse, and the procedure for doing so.

It follows the high-profile cases during the last two seasons where Chelsea’s John Terry and Liverpool’s Luis Suarez both received bans for racial abuse, and new FA sanctions which carry a minimum five-match ban for a first offence of racist or homophobic abuse.

Players will also be warned that new contracts will carry clauses making discriminatory abuse a gross misconduct offence that could lead to immediate dismissal by a club.

A letter about the programme from PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor has gone out to every manager.

Taylor told Press Association Sport: “We are rolling out these courses on equality and the nature of law in this country so there is no excuse for not abiding by those laws. Letters have gone out to clubs and we need to avoid any such embarrassment again after the recent cases.”

The letter from the PFA to the managers states: “We are looking to arrange this session in the near future and would appreciate you ensuring players attend as a matter of priority.”

In the sessions, players will be given scenarios where abuse occurs – either from fans or from other players – and guided as to their correct response. They will also be asked to judge what they regard as dressing-room banter and told whether their views are appropriate. As well as racist and homophobic language, players will also be warned not to use discriminatory terms referring to religion or disability.