December 18 – Tottenham Hotspur have lost their appeal against the severity of Uruguay midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur’s seven-game ban for making an offensive comment about South Koreans in relation to a remark about Spurs teammate Son Heung-min.
The Uruguay midfielder was given the suspension, which relates to domestic English games, by an independent commission on November 18 and Spurs indicated they would appeal.
The English FA has now confirmed an appeal board has dismissed Tottenham’s challenge and Bentancur will serve the remainder of his ban, missing matches against Manchester United in the League Cup and Liverpool in the Premier League.
“This appeal was dismissed following a hearing, and the seven-match suspension remains as ordered by the regulatory commission,” the governing body said in a statement.
Bentancur was charged with misconduct in September over a television interview he gave in his home country three months previously. The midfielder was asked during the interview to show the shirt of a Spurs player, and replied: “Sonny’s? It could be Sonny’s cousin too as they all look the same.”
Although the interview took place thousands of miles away from where Bentancur plays his club football, English authorities were deemed to have jurisdiction in the case. The standard minimum ban where such a breach is established is six matches, but Spurs said they felt the sanction was “severe” when confirming their intention to appeal.
Bentancur apologised on Instagram to Son for his remarks saying it was “a very bad joke” and that he would “never disrespect you”. The pair are reported to be close friends and Son immediately accepted the apology in a statement on the same platform.
Details of the decision released by the independent commission showed that Bentancur explained his comments “were sarcastic and a gentle rebuke” for the journalist calling his teammate “The Korean” and that he challenged the reporter’s description of Son.
In its conclusions, the regulatory commission, however, wrote that “even on the basis of the player’s evidence and submissions, we consider the player’s conduct in using the words he did, in the full context in which they were used, was clearly abusive and insulting, and would amount to misconduct.”
The commission added that it also took into consideration the fact that Bentancur did not intend to offend Son or anyone else.
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