The Football Association charged Rodrigo Bentancur, a midfielder for Tottenham, on Thursday for allegedly breaking the rules on misconduct after he made a comment against his teammate Son Heung-min on Uruguayan TV.
When asked for a Spurs player’s shirt in June by the host of the Canal 10 show, the Uruguayan international said, “Sonny’s? They all have the same appearance, thus it might also be Sonny’s relative.
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 September 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.
