Rodrigo Bentancur hit with fine as FA confirm huge suspension
Rodrigo Bentancur hit with fine as FA confirm huge suspension. Tottenham Hotspur’s Rodrigo Bentancur has been hit with a £100,000 fine and a seven-match ban by the Football Association, following a racist comments about Son Heung-min in the summer.
The Uruguay international was charged by the FA in relation to remarks he made about his club captain in June.
Bentancur did reply with “they all look the same” when asked to show the difference between Son and his cousin on Uruguayan television and the length of his ban was leaked last week.
Now, the FA have confirmed his suspension for bringing the game into disrepute with a breach of FA Rule E3.1, acting in an “improper manner and/or used abusive and/or insulting words”.
Their statement reads:
“An independent Regulatory Commission has imposed a seven-match suspension and £100,000 fine on Rodrigo Bentancur for a breach of FA Rule E3 in relation to a media interview.
“It was alleged that the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder breached FA Rule E3.1 as he acted in an improper manner and/or used abusive and/or insulting words and/or brought the game into disrepute. It was further alleged that this constitutes an “aggravated breach”, which is defined in FA Rule E3.2, as it included a reference – whether express or implied – to nationality and/or race and/or ethnic origin.
“Rodrigo Bentancur denied this charge, but the independent Regulatory Commission found it to be proven and imposed his sanctions following a hearing.”
Responding to the incident in June, Son said:
“I’ve spoken with Lolo [Bentancur]. He made a mistake, he knows this and has apologised.
“Lolo would not mean to ever intentionally say something offensive. We are brothers and nothing has changed at all.
“We’re past this, we’re united and we will be back together in pre-season to fight for our club as one.”
Bentancur will now not be available for domestic actions until Boxing Day. He will miss this weekend’s clash with Manchester City and subsequent matches against Fulham, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Liverpool and Southampton, as well as the Carabao Cup quarter-final clash with Manchester United.
He will, however, remain available for Europa League outings against Roma and Rangers as the ban does not apply to European football.