World football governing body FIFA has banned four Uruguay players for aggressively confronting match officials when the team was eliminated from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar despite defeating Ghana 2-0.
Uruguay players Fernando Muslera and José María Giménez for four games each while veterans Edinson Cavani and Diego Godín will also serve one-game bans, FIFA said in a disciplinary verdict.
The players must all carry out community service on a soccer project. Gimenez and Muslera will pay fines of 20,000 Swiss francs ($21,600) each while Cavani and Godin will pay fines of 15,000 Swiss francs each, FIFA said.
Additionally, the Uruguayan soccer federation was also fined 50,000 Swiss francs ($54,000) and must observe a partial stadium closure (the stands behind the goals) at its next FIFA “A” international match as host association.
“After a thorough analysis of the various factual elements in light of the applicable provisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee found that the Uruguayan Football Association was responsible for the discriminatory behaviour of its supporters as well as for the misconduct, offensive behaviour and violation of the principles of fair play of the members of its representative team,” the statement said.
“In addition, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee decided to sanction the Uruguayan players José María Giménez, Fernando Muslera, Edinson Cavani and Diego Godín in relation to their respective established misconduct(s) and/or behaviour(s)”.
What Uruguay did
Uruguay players confronted German referee Daniel Siebert after the final whistle at Al Janoub Stadium despite winning their final group game against Ghana last month.
Valencia striker Edinson Cavani was pictured pushing over a VAR monitor following the match.
They accused the referee of denying them a penalty kick in stoppage time. One more goal scored would have sent Uruguay to the round of 16 instead of South Korea who defeated Portugal 2-1 to advance as runner-up in Group H.
Source: graphic.com.gh