UEFA suspends PSG-Basaksehir's fourth official until the end of the season

The UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Committee disqualified Romanian Sebastian Coltescu for inappropriate conduct until June 30, 2021, fourth official in the Champions League group stage match between French PSG and Turkish Basksehir, suspended for a racist incident on December 8.

UEFA confirmed this Monday the sanction to the Romanian referee for inappropriate behavior but not for racism and explained that it responds to the violation of article 11.1 of the Disciplinary Regulations, as well as 6.1 of the General Conditions for Referees (obligation to behave appropriately), but not article 14 of the first regarding racism and other discriminatory conduct.

For the same reasons, the UEFA disciplinary commission also admonished the Romanian referee Octavian Sovre, who acted as an assistant in said match, which was interrupted at 13 minutes and resumed the next day with another referee team.

Both Coltescu and Sovre will have to attend an educational program before June 30, 2021 under the conditions determined by UEFA's arbitration services.

UEFA opened an investigation into the incidents of the match and appointed an instructor, with whom its Disciplinary Committee agreed that UEFA officials should receive adequate training and specific to make better decisions about the choice of language and words to use in UEFA competitions.

“In the international context, the correct use of language is essential to avoid situations such as those that occurred in the aforementioned game“said the agency.

Regarding the Cameroonian Pierre Webo, assistant coach of Turkish Bsaksehir and former player of the Spanish clubs Osasuna, Leganés and Mallorca, who saw the red card in the clash, the disciplinary commission imposed a sanction on him for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Red card to Webo for protesting a referee decisionHe was the trigger for the incidentsas the Turkish team claimed at the time that the fourth official, Romanian Sebastian Coltescu, used a racist term against Cameroonian.

The players of both teams decided to leave the field after a few minutes of discussions with the Romanian referee Ovidiu Hatega and the match was subsequently suspended, although it was completed the next day with a new referee team.