FIFA not to punish defender who injured Neymar

FIFA decided not to punish Colombian defender Zúñiga for the foul committed near the end of the second half of the match between Brazil and Colombia, played last Friday (Jul 4), as part of the World Cup round of eight. Zúñiga’s move broke a vertebra of Brazilian football star Neymar, who has therefore been ruled out of the sporting event.

The association’s Disciplinary Committee has issued an official statement explaining why Zúñiga could not be punished. The Committee also announced that there is no legal basis to grant the request made by the Brazilian Football Confederation (“CBF”) to rescind the yellow card given to Brazilian player Thiago Silva during the match in question.

According to FIFA, in Neymar’s case, no retrospective action can be taken by the Committee, as the incident was seen by the referees. The confederation reiterated that the permission the Disciplinary Committee has to redress obvious mistakes in referees’ decisions, does not apply in this case either, since the referee did not show any card, red or yellow, to the Colombian player.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira

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