- The Argentine Football Association expressed its disagreement with the decision made by FIFA | Photo: EFE
Aston Villa’s Argentine goalkeeper, Emiliano “Dibu” Martínez, received a two-match ban from FIFA, meaning he will not be able to play with the Albiceleste team in the next matches of the 2026 South American World Cup Qualifiers against Venezuela and Bolivia.
According to what the Argentine Football Association (AFA) published on its official website, despite the defense made by the federation itself and the player, the Disciplinary Commission of the governing body of world football considered Dibu “responsible for his offensive behavior and his violation of the principles of fair play” in the duels against Chile and Colombia, also in the World Cup qualifiers.
The text recalls that the defendant is suspended for two games and that “said suspension will be fulfilled during the next official match(s) of the representative team of the Argentine Football Association.”
The AFA expressed itself “absolutely in disagreement with the decision taken” by FIFA, he added in his text.
Why was Dibu Martínez sanctioned?
On September 5, in the context of Argentina-Chile, Dibu repeated with the Copa América an obscene gesture that he had already made on previous occasions, including after winning the Qatar World Cup 2022placing the trophy in front of his genitals, which has been punished by the governing body of world football.
Furthermore, after the match that Argentina lost 2-1 against Colombia on September 10, Martínez greeted several rivals on the field, including his teammate in the English team Jhon Jader Durán, but at one point he walked away. and hit a camera that was focused on him with his hand.
What happened was captured by the cameras that broadcast the match played in Barranquilla and quickly uploaded to social networks where it was interpreted by Colombian fans as a gesture of a bad loser.
The next day, the Colombian Association of Sports Journalists (Acord Colombia) “conclusively” rejected what happened, because, he said in a statement, “slapping the cameraman’s equipment onto the grass is an attack on freedom of expression that our union does not admit. “Colombia is a country in which the freedom to inform is respected.”
Argentina, which will play on October 10 against Venezuela as a visitor and on the 15th at home against Bolivia, leads the qualifying table, with 18 points, two more than Colombia and three more than Uruguay.
With information from EFE
Related news
#Dibu #Martínez #matches #Vinotinto #Bolivia #due #FIFA #sanction
2024-09-28 06:30:09
