Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni faces a worldwide ban from football, a decision that will see him miss Argentina’s opening two World Cup matches this summer should he be selected for the squad.
The ruling stems from an incident involving Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr.
Uefa’s control, ethics and disciplinary body (CEDB) initially imposed a six-match suspension on Prestianni on 24 April for his “homophobic conduct”.
This followed the player’s admission of using homophobic language towards Vinicius during a Champions League fixture on 17 February. An allegation of racial abuse against Vinicius was found not proven.
Of the six-game ban, three matches were suspended for a period of two years, while one had already been provisionally served during the second leg between the two teams. Football’s global governing body, Fifa, has now agreed to Uefa’s request to extend this ban globally.
The extended ban applies to official international matches, directly impacting Argentina’s initial World Cup fixtures but not any pre-tournament friendlies.
A Fifa spokesperson confirmed: “The Fifa disciplinary committee has decided to extend the six-match ban imposed by Uefa on SL Benfica player Gianluca Prestianni to have worldwide effect. The sanction has been extended in accordance with article 70 of the Fifa Disciplinary Code.”
Given Prestianni has only earned one senior cap for Argentina, the worldwide extension of the ban renders his selection for the World Cup highly improbable. It is therefore anticipated that the suspension will most likely be served during next season’s Champions League campaign.
The incident itself saw Prestianni cover his mouth while speaking to Vinicius after the Brazilian had scored for Real in the match held in Lisbon.
In response to such actions, Fifa put forward a proposal in late February for players who cover their mouth when confronting an opponent to be shown a red card.
This proposal received unanimous approval at a special meeting of the International Football Association Board (Ifab) in Vancouver last week, granting competitions the discretion to apply this sanction.
