Neymar Injury: We Won’t Take Disciplinary Action Against Zúñiga -FIFA

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News, Sports News Monday, July 7th, 2014

FIFA Disciplinary Committee says it can not consider any punishment for Colombian player Juan Camilo Zuniga Mosquera whose tackle caused the injury that has sidelined Brazil’s top player, Neymar, for the rest of the World Cup.

Brazil’s soccer federation is pressing FIFA to punish the Colombian player for the tackle in their 2-1 quarter-final victory Friday.

Neymar being airlifted for treatment

Neymar sustained a lumbar vertebra fracture when he was kneed in the back by Colombia defender Camilo Zúñiga late in the encounter.

Late Saturday, the Brazilian federation, known by the acronym C.B.F., presented evidence — presumably video and supporting documentation — to FIFA’s disciplinary committee and demanded action.

However, the world governing body ruled out any further action, with FIFA Disciplinary Committee (FDC) saying that it can not intervene in such situation based on the conditions outlined in its code.

FIFA argued that since the incident involving the Colombian player did not escape the match officials’ attention, which is the first of two cumulative and necessary conditions for art. 77 a) of the FDC to be applied.

Meanwhile art. 77 b) of the FDC, which entitles the Disciplinary Committee to rectify obvious errors in the referee’s disciplinary decisions, equally cannot be applied in this case because neither a yellow card nor a red card was shown by the referee to the player Juan Camilo Zuniga Mosquera. Indeed, art. 77 b) of the FDC stipulates that the Disciplinary Committee may rectify obvious errors in the referee’s disciplinary decisions, which is only possible in the case of mistaken identity when a referee shows a yellow or red card to the wrong player.

It is important to note that the conditions by which the FIFA Disciplinary Committee can intervene in any incident have to be considered independently of the consequences of that incident, such as an unfortunate injury suffered by a player.

FIFA wished Neymar a prompt and complete recovery and wish the same for all players who have been ruled out of the World Cup through injury.