Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Rodrigo Bentancourt has been banned for 7 games by the Football Association for making racist comments towards his teammate Heung-Min Son in a TV interview.
Bentancourt was charged by the FA on September 12 with alleged misconduct in connection with a media interview that emerged in June and showed Bentancourt being asked by a Channel 10 presenter to show him a Spurs player’s shirt.
Former player of “Juventus” Bentancourt answered. “Sonny? It might as well be Sonny’s cousin since they all look the same.”
Although Bentancur was soon apologised, saying it was a “gross offence”, the independent regulatory commission was required to either uphold the FA’s charge or drop the case.
Please use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
“Tottenham” captain Hyeong-Min Soh defends Bentancourt, accused of making offensive remarks against his teammate.
The Independent Regulatory Commission upheld the charge and Bentancourt is set to miss Tottenham’s next seven domestic matches, but will be able to feature for the club in their upcoming Europa League games against Roma and Rangers.
The FA spokesperson said. “The Independent Regulatory Commission has handed a seven-match ban and a £100,000 fine to Rodrigo Bentancur for breaching FA Rule E3 in connection with an interview with the media.
“The Tottenham Hotspur midfielder was deemed to have breached FA Rule E3.1 by acting in an inappropriate manner and/or using offensive and/or abusive language and/or disrupting play.
It was then argued that this was an ‘aggravated offence’, as defined in FA Rule E3.2, because it included a reference, whether express or implied, to nationality and/or racial and/or ethnic origin.
“Rodrigo Bentancourt denied this allegation, but the independent Regulatory Commission found it substantiated and imposed its sanctions after a court hearing.”
Son said he and Bentancourt remained “brothers” and “nothing has changed” after the Uruguayan immediately apologized to him, admitting he had “made a mistake”.
Next week, on November 23, “Tottenham” will travel to “Manchester City”, live Sky Sports.
Spurs’ next seven home games
November 23: Manchester City (a) live Sky Sports
December 1: Fulham (j)
December 5: Bournemouth (a)
December 8: Chelsea (h) – live stream Sky Sports
December 15: Southampton (a)
December 19: Manchester United (j) live Sky Sports, Carabao Cup quarter-finals
December 22: Liverpool (h) – live broadcast Sky Sports
