Tottenham midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur has been charged by the FA after making a racist joke about the club’s captain Son Heung-min.
The Uruguayan international was asked by a TV show host in the country for a Spurs player’s shirt, to which he replied: “Sonny’s? It could be Sonny’s cousin too, as they all look the same.”
The 27-year-old swiftly apologised on social media, describing the remark as a “very bad joke”.
But anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out said it had received a “significant number” of complaints, which were sent to the club and the “relevant authorities”.
South Korea captain Son, 32, later said his teammate had “made a mistake”, adding that they were “brothers” and “nothing has changed at all”.
However, the FA announced on Thursday that Bentancur had been charged with an alleged breach of its misconduct rules.
“It’s alleged that the Tottenham midfielder has breached FA Rule E3.1 as he acted in an improper manner and/or used abusive and/or insulting words and/or brought the game into disrepute,” the governing body said in a statement.
“It’s further alleged that this constitutes an ‘aggravated breach’ which is defined in FA Rule E3.2, as it included a reference, whether express or implied, to nationality and/or race and/or ethnic origin.”
The FA added that Bentancur had until 19 September to provide a response to the charge.
Read more from Sky News:
Billionaire in first commercial spacewalk
Body found in search for missing hillwalker
Trapped driver rescued from flood
Following the remark, Bentancur posted on Instagram: “Sonny brother! I apologise to you for what happened, it was just a very bad joke.”
Tottenham said in a statement in June: “We fully support that our captain Sonny feels that he can draw a line under the incident and that the team can focus on the new season ahead.
“We are extremely proud of our diverse, global fanbase and playing squads. Discrimination of any kind has no place at our club, within our game or within wider society.”
In the same post, the club quoted Son as saying: “I’ve spoken with Lolo [Bentancur]. He made a mistake, he knows this and has apologised.
“Lolo would not mean to ever intentionally say something offensive. We are brothers and nothing has changed at all.
“We’re past this, we’re united, and we will be back together in pre-season to fight for our club as one.”