Tottenham Hotspur’s appeal to lower the length of Rodrigo Bentancur’s seven-match suspension for making a racist comment about Heung-min Son has been dismissed by the Football Association.
Rodrigo Bentancur will serve the entire seven-match suspension handed to him over a racist comment made about Heung-min Son after Tottenham’s appeal over the severity of the ban was dismissed by the Football Association.
Bentancur was handed the ban, as well as a £100,000 fine, over comments made about Son on Uruguayan TV.
The 27-year-old was asked to show the shirt of a Spurs player on the programme and responded by saying: “Sonny’s? It could be Sonny’s cousin too as they all look the same.”
An apology was swiftly released onto the midfielder’s social channels, as well as to Son directly, with the South Korean responding by stating that they are still “brothers” and that his teammate had “made a mistake”.
Despite this, Bentancur was banned for an “aggravated breach” of FA rules, and while Spurs accepted the judgement, they lodged an appeal over the length of the suspension.
FA Dismiss Tottenham’s Appeal Over Bentancur Ban
The FA confirmed on Tuesday that Tottenham‘s appeal had been dismissed by an independent Appeal Board.
“An independent Appeal Board has dismissed an appeal by Rodrigo Bentancur in relation to his recent suspension,” the statement read.
“An independent Regulatory Commission imposed a seven-match suspension on the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder for an aggravated breach of FA Rule E3 in relation to a media interview.
“This appeal was dismissed following a hearing, and the seven-match suspension remains as ordered by the Regulatory Commission.
“The Appeal Board’s written reasons for its decision will be published in due course.”
Bentancur has already served five matches of his suspension, and now with confirmation that the length of his ban won’t be shortened, he won’t be eligible to face Manchester United in the Carabao Cup or Liverpool in the Premier League.
Due to the ban only applying in domestic competitions, the Uruguay international has been able to feature for Spurs in the Europa League and has started in each of their last two games against Roma and Rangers.
