William Gomes defence and TCAS grounds for suspending two-game ban | OneFootball

According to O Jogo, the Tribunal Central Administrativo do Sul has accepted a precautionary injunction lodged by William Gomes, halting the second game of a two-match suspension handed down by the FPF’s Disciplinary Board.

The Porto winger was shown a straight red for catching Casa Pia’s David Sousa on the head.

He served the first match against Sporting, then Porto appealed to the Tribunal Arbitral do Desporto and sought a provisional pause to the sanction. The TCAS ruling made him eligible for the trip to Nacional, where he came on around the 90th minute.

Judge Tânia Meireles da Cunha accepted the defence’s argument of legal inconsistency. Although the disciplinary body deemed the act purely negligent, it applied article 154 of the disciplinary regulations, which addresses violent play and punishes only intentional conduct, an approach the player’s representatives called an error.

The judge noted the conduct was described as negligent rather than intentional and that article 154 does not expressly cover merely negligent actions, unlike other provisions. She considered there is a serious probability of Gomes winning the main action before the Tribunal Arbitral do Desporto, which would remove the second game of the ban, meeting the fumus boni iuris requirement.

The court also found no significant downside to a provisional suspension, and held that preventing Gomes from playing would cause serious prejudice, since any eventual success would be hollow after two enforced absences.

Source: O Jogo