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Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur has been charged by the Football Association with racially abusing captain Son Heung-min after suggesting that South Koreans “all look the same”.
Bentancur is facing possible sanctions after being accused of “using abusive and/or insulting words and/or damaging the reputation of the game” in comments that referred to Son’s “nationality and/or race and/or ethnic origin.”
He has until next Thursday to respond.
The Uruguay international apologised in June for comments made on his home country’s Canal 10 programme Por La Camiseta when he was asked for the shirt of a Spurs player.
“Sonny?” he replied at the time. “It could also be Sonny’s cousin, because they all look alike.”
Following an inevitable backlash from those who watched the clip, Bentancur posted on social media that he had no intention of insulting Son.
“Sonny, my brother! I apologize for what happened, it was just a really bad joke,” Bentancur said. “You know I love you and I would never disrespect you or hurt you or anyone else! I love you, my brother!”
Spurs and Son later released their own statements, with the South Korean captain insisting he and Bentancur remained “brothers” and that “nothing had changed” in their relationship.
“I spoke with Lolo,” Son said. “He made a mistake, he knows it and he apologized. Lolo would never have intentionally said anything offensive. We are brothers and nothing has changed. We are past this point, we are united and we will be back together in pre-season to fight for our club as one man.”
Spurs said they “fully support” Son in his feeling he can “draw a line under” the incident.
“Following a comment by Rodrigo Bentancur in an interview video clip and the player’s subsequent public apology, the club has provided assistance to ensure a positive outcome to this matter,” Spurs said in a statement.
“This will include ongoing training for all players, in line with our diversity, equality and inclusion goals. We fully support our captain Sonny in feeling that he can put the incident behind him and the team can focus on the new season ahead.
“We are extremely proud of our fan base and playing squads, which are very diverse and global. Discrimination of any kind has no place in our club, in our sport or in society in general.”
Son has previously spoken emotionally about the racism and stereotyping he faced during his career, particularly as a young player trying to make it in the world of professional football. Two years ago, he spoke about his experiences on Korean television.
“I moved to Germany when I was young and went through a lot of really difficult and unimaginable times,” he said.
“I faced a lot of racism. And while I was going through a really difficult time, I had a lot of thoughts going through my head. [that] I should get my revenge one day.
In 2021, 12 men from across England and Wales were arrested or questioned under caution “on suspicion of using words or behaviour, or displaying written material, with intent to stir up racial hatred” against Son. The online abuse was directed at him during a Premier League match with Manchester United that year.
The FA has a long-standing policy of punishing those found guilty of using language deemed racist, with some high-profile players having been charged in different circumstances following incidents on and off the pitch.
Five years ago, Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva was fined £50,000 and banned for one match after a social media post about Benjamin Mendy perpetuated a racial stereotype.
The most famous of these, another Uruguayan, Luis Suarez, was fined £40,000 and banned for eight games for racially abusing Patrice Evra during a match between Liverpool and Manchester United in 2011.
