have been disclosed reasons that led the Federal Court of Appeal to confirm the two-match ban on José Mourinho. Here they are, in detail: “All that has been collected (…) does not offer certain evidence to overturn – especially with respect to the assessment of the conduct of Mr. Mourinho – the decision of the first instance judge, cannot in any way doubt that the attitude of the coach of the Capitoline team, as far as the competence of this Court, is to be stigmatized, not only with reference to what happened on the pitch of play, but also and above all with regard to the behavior of the latter at the end of the match, a good forty-five minutes after the expulsion, arguments which leave no margin even for reducing the sanction imposed, given, also, the recurrence of the complainant“.
Mourinho disqualified, Roma’s claim
This is what we read in the reasons for the sentenceregarding Roma’s complaint: “The complainant parties, on the merits, consider this sanction disproportionate, unjust and erroneously afflictive. In particular, they dispute the reconstruction of the events that occurred at the start of the second half of the match being judged. In this sense, they argue that the disputed infringement was not committed and that, in any case, it depended on the conduct and behavior of the fourth officer, Mr. Serra, which would reflect profiles of an arbitrary nature as regards the exercise of the power recognized to the function of member of the arbitration body”.
Mourinho disqualified, the clarification of the Court on the Serra case
The Court then specifies that it refers only to what is written in the arbitration reportnot to what happened with Serra which, in fact, is the subject of another investigation: “In the first place, it should be clarified that the sphere of competence of the first and second degree sporting judgment is inherent, exclusively, to the match and does not concern strictly disciplinary profiles, in particular as regards the conduct of Mr. Serra, which has already been brought to the attention of the prosecutor. Secondly, with reference to the means of proof that can be used by this Court, with regard to the videos, it should be further specified that the judge of the tender has the “right to use, as means of proof, for the sole purpose of imposing disciplinary sanctions against members, also television footage or other films that offer full technical and documentary guarantees, if they demonstrate that the official documents indicate that a subject other than the author of the infringement has been admonished, expelled or removed” or, through a detailed procedure, “limited to the facts of violent or grossly unsportsmanlike conduct or involving the use of profane expression unseen by the referee or the VAR».
Mourinho sent off, what happened to Cremona in the dressing room
The reasons for the sentence also explain what happened in the Cremona locker room: “Mourinho went to the match officials’ dressing room. The race director and the fourth official reaffirmed, both with absolute firmness, as also declared to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, that the expulsion provision was decided exclusively by Mr. Piccinini, referee of the match, for the provocative behavior maintained and reiterated by Mr. Mourinho against the fourth official. Notably, Mr. Piccinini highlighted how Mr. Mourinho, having moved away from the technical area, had lingered excessively in the insistent protest action, almost coming into contact with the IV official of the match and pointing his finger at him. Mr. Serra, for his part, in confirming the aforementioned dynamics, categorically reiterated, on several occasions, that he had not uttered any provocative or offensive phrases towards the Roma coach. All the four referees then further confirmed, in unison, what was written in the match report regarding the seriously disrespectful behavior of Mr. Mourinho in the locker room“.
Mourinho, the sentences to Serra in the locker room
And then, again, these are the phrases attributed to Mourinho in the locker room: “Then, in the defensive construction, the legal relevance of the conduct held by Mr. is inexplicably reduced. Mourinho inside the locker room which, in the face of the simple denial by Mr. Serra of the accusations directed at him, lingered in offensive expressions (“you’re a liar”, “you’re not a man”) or seriously allusive on the alleged partiality of the aforementioned match official (“you had me kicked out because you’re from Turin and Sunday c ‘it’s Rome – Juventus»). It is, in fact, quite evident how, with respect to this further segment of the grievance conduct, the alleged irreverent attitude that Mr. Serra, in the reconstruction privileged by the complaining parties, would have held in the 2nd minute of play of the second half“.
Mourinho, disqualification confirmed
Here, then, is that the court confirms the two-match ban: “Taking into account all that has been set out up to now, the fairness underlying the sanction imposed by the sports judge cannot be revoked in doubt who, evidently evaluating all the circumstances of the concrete case, contained the punitive reaction in the sanction of disqualification for 2 actual days of competition with a fine of € 10,000.00, where the minimum required by the Sports Justice Code for just one episode of abusive and disrespectful conduct is equal to 2 days of disqualification“.
