Tottenham has lost their request to shorten Rodrigo Bentancur’s seven-match suspension for remarks he made against teammate Son Heung-min.
An independent commission suspended the Uruguayan midfielder on November 18, and Spurs said two days later that they will file an appeal.
The Football Association said on Tuesday that Tottenham’s appeal against that sentence had been rejected by an appeal board.
According to a statement from the governing organization, “this appeal was dismissed following a hearing, and the seven-match suspension remains as ordered by the regulatory commission.”
Tottenham has lost their request to shorten Rodrigo Bentancur’s seven-match suspension for remarks he made against teammate Son Heung-min.
An independent commission suspended the Uruguayan midfielder on November 18, and Spurs said two days later that they will file an appeal.
The Football Association said on Tuesday that Tottenham’s appeal against that sentence had been rejected by an appeal board.
According to a statement from the governing organization, “this appeal was dismissed following a hearing, and the seven-match suspension remains as ordered by the regulatory commission.”
Lolo (Bentancur) would never purposefully say something hurtful. Nothing has changed between us as brothers.
Heung-min Son
I’ve had a conversation with Lolo (Bentancur). “He knows he made a mistake and has expressed regret,” the South Korea skipper stated.
“Lolo would never mean to say anything offensive on purpose. Nothing at all has changed, and we are still brothers.
“We are united, we have moved past this, and we will reunite in preseason to fight for our club as a unit.”
Additionally, Bentancur received a £100,000 fine.
The infraction was deemed to be “towards the lower end of the (sanctioning) guideline range but not the lowest point,” according to the original panel.
“Cases that are less serious than this can easily be envisaged, but nevertheless subject to the minimum suspension of six matches,” it continued.
The panel acknowledged Bentancur’s heartfelt apology and his prior spotless disciplinary record as mitigating factors, but stated that it should have been “reasonably foreseeable” to him that the comments would be extensively shared on social media.
The written justifications provided by the appeal board for rejecting Spurs’ challenge have not yet been made public.
“Kick It Out received more reports regarding Tottenham’s decision to appeal against the discrimination sanction for Rodrigo Bentacnur than the actual incident itself,” the statement read.
“We received numerous reports from the East and Southeast Asian community and beyond expressing their anger and disappointment with the club’s conduct, as well as how they added to the suffering of those impacted by the first tragedy.
We hope the club will now consider its choice and how it might try to interact with the community, since we know this has been a distressing incident for many fans.
“We would urge teams to address East and Southeast Asian racism in football in the same way that they do other types of prejudice, as seen by the volume of reports to Kick It Out over the past few seasons.
“We eagerly await the written reasons for the appeal’s dismissal.”
