LONDON: Tottenham midf­ielder Rodrigo Bent­ancur was charged by the Football Association on Thursday over an alleged misconduct breach for a remark made on Urug­uayan TV about team-mate Son Heung-min.

The Uruguay international had been asked in June by the host of the Canal 10 show for a Spurs player’s shirt, to which he replied: “Sonny’s? It could be Sonny’s cou­sin too as they all look the same.”

British anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out said it had received a “significant number” of complaints related to the comment.

Bentancur apologised to the South Korea international and Spurs skipper, who said his team-mate had “made a mistake”.

A statement from the FA said Bentancur had been charged with an alleged breach of its rules in relation to a media interview.

“It’s alleged that the Totte­nham midfielder has 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,” the statement said.

“It’s 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.”

Bentancur has until Sept 19 to provide a response to the charge.

Former Manchester Uni­ted striker Edinson Cavani was banned for three games and fined 100,000 ($130,000) in 2020 for using the Spanish term “negrito” (small black person) in a social media post.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2024