Porto could face a fine, but a defeat as punishment is out of the question | OneFootball

The lawyer and Sports Law professor Lúcio Miguel Correia states that it is complicated to fit the controversial case described by referee Fábio Veríssimo into the disciplinary regulations. In the report, the AF Leiria judge accuses FC Porto of placing a television in the referees' dressing room during the halftime of the FC Porto-SC Braga match, which could not be turned off, showing disputed plays from the first half and a Benfica goal in the final of the Pontinha Tournament – a play similar to the one involving Bednarek and goalkeeper Hornicek that led to the annulment of Froholdt's goal.

«It's an atypical behavior, completely outside the scope of what is normal in a game and, by the way, it's worth mentioning that this is not how our League will be marketed abroad. Something inconceivable in England or Spain. The problem is from a legal standpoint, no matter how obtuse or ridiculous this behavior may be, I can't properly fit it into the disciplinary regulations, no matter how reprehensible it is. The issue of coercion means an act of physical or moral violence against a referee, a player, etc., but this coercion, which besides meaning physical or moral violence here, must obviously affect the referee's own sporting performance, and that did not happen. The referee continued his work, there was no physical violence, no one dragged the referee off the field, and there is no real harassment, in the sense that a crime was committed,» argues the lawyer.

And he reinforces: «There is a legal difficulty in framing this, given what are the disciplinary offenses provided for in the regulations. When we have a set of behaviors that are, in my view, indefensible, that shouldn't even exist, we have to frame them from a disciplinary point of view. I don't think there's a threat, because images in 'loop' don't mean a threat, a hostile act also doesn't really fit here. This case doesn't fall under article 66, because there was no physical or moral violence in the sense that the referee couldn't finish the game. In the concept of discipline, I might frame this as less severe. During the investigation, FC Porto SAD, the delegate, the referee himself will be heard, and we need to understand whether or not there were effects on his sporting performance and what was the true intention of those who put those images in 'loop' and who hid the TV remote. The League indeed needs to discipline these behaviors, either by placing them in a specific rule, or at least a more comprehensive one, at the regulatory level.»

Regarding possible penalties, Lúcio Miguel Correia does not foresee the application of a defeat to FC Porto: «Not at all. There is no report that the result was only achieved because of those images, and that it conditioned and possibly caused the referee to have a sporting performance far below, or even contrary to what he usually has. I don't think there is a causal link between the result, the sporting performance, and the display of those images, which, I repeat, are completely unethical and highly reprehensible. Therefore, in that aspect, I don't think so. I admit there could be a fine, I admit there could even be other types of sanctions, but a sanction of defeat seems completely out of context.»

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.