Tottenham fail with Rodrigo Bentancur seven-game FA ban appeal

The FA have rejected Tottenham's appeal against the seven-game ban handed down to Rodrigo Bentancur for a racist comment directed towards teammate Son Heung-min.

Bentancur was sanctioned by the FA following his comments in an interview earlier in the year. The seven-game ban was on the lesser side of the spectrum, with the FA handing out anywhere between six and 12 games in such circumstances.

Tottenham appealed against the seven matches but an independent Appeal Board has dismissed an appeal by Bentancur in relation to his recent suspension.

A statement on the FA website read: "This appeal was dismissed following a hearing, and the seven-match suspension remains as ordered by the Regulatory Commission.

"The Appeal Board’s written reasons for its decision will be published in due course."

An independent regulatory commission gave Bentancur a seven-game suspension, a £100,000 fine, and ordered him to attend a mandatory face-to-face education programme for comments during an interview which contained a racial slur regarding Spurs captain Son Heung-min.

Bentancur denied the FA charge against him and claimed that his response to the journalist had been a sarcastic one and was meant to gently chide him for calling Son 'the Korean'. The commission believed that the Uruguayan's two public apologies, private apology to Son, his captain's own Instagram post speaking about Bentancur knowing he'd made a mistake and the club's comment on the situation suggested that the midfielder knew he had said something wrong.

The decision means the Uruguayan remains out of action for Thursday night's Carabao Cup quarter-final with Manchester United and Sunday's clash against Liverpool in the Premier League. He will be back for the Boxing Day clash with Nottingham Forest, having served seven games by then.