Calcutta/New Delhi: Indian Super League (ISL) leaders Atletico de Kolkata (ATK) have a lot more on their hands than they bargained for, ahead of their match against Kerala Blasters, on Sunday.
The disciplinary committee of the ISL, on Saturday, decided to clamp down heavily on the growing acts of indiscipline in the tournament, slapping bans and fines on ATK’s Fikru Teferra, manager Antonio Lopez Habas and goalkeeping coach Predipkumar Bhaktwer. FC Goa’s Robert Pires has also been suspended and fined.
ATK have already appealed to the disciplinary committee to “reconsider” their decision. The Goa franchise, too, are set to appeal.
The players and coaches have been found guilty under Article 58 of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) disciplinary code.
Habas, Fikru and Pires have all been given the minimum ban applicable for their offence, an ATK official said.
Habas has been suspended for four matches and has been fined Rs. 5 lakh. Bhaktwer has been suspended for a match and fined Rs 30,000. Fikru and Pires will have to serve a two-match ban and pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh each.
Fikru’s ban is set to hit ATK hard, as he has been very impressive in the matches so far.
Though the Ethiopian was never pulled up by the referee, Christopher Prenso, during the match against FC Goa, the disciplinary committee felt Fikru was guilty of head-butting Gregory Arnolin.
The ban and fine on FC Goa’s marquee player Pires, who had accused Habas of punching him on the face, proves that the disciplinary committee thinks that the French star too is guilty.
However, FC Goa’s French defender Arnolin, who was involved in the head-butting incident with Fikru, has escaped punishment. “Gregory was definitely lucky to escape punishment,” said a source. “The disciplinary committee was not happy with the way he behaved in the match, but there was no official complaint against him. Had ATK filed a complaint within two hours after the Goa match, the defender could have been in trouble.”
The disciplinary committee, who took the decisions only after carefully going through the video evidence on and off the field, was surprised by American referee Prenso’s passivity during the match.
Though the ISL officials are maintaining silence on the role of Prenso, he is set to be sent back home after this fiasco. He would not be supervising any more matches in the tournament and would fly home with two other assistant referees from the US early next week.
“The disciplinary committee has gone through the CCTV footage available outside the dressing room and was convinced that both Habas and Pires were equally responsible for the incident, after which Pires said he was hit by the rival coach,” the source said.
Stricter action was taken against Habas because he had already been warned once earlier in the tournament, the source revealed. Habas and the ATK support staff, it was felt, had been seen behaving in aggressive manners in some of the previous encounters as well.
There were some problems during the match against NorthEast United FC and the referee’s report did not have too many good things to say about the ATK’s technical bench.
Interestingly, it may be recalled, that in August this year, the Spanish Football Federation suspended Atletico Madrid coach, Diego Simeone, for eight matches after he was sent off during the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup.
Atletico Madrid are the co-owners of the Calcutta franchise. The Spanish champions beat Real Madrid 1-0 to win the Super Cup 2-1 on aggregate. Simeone was suspended for four games for tapping the back of an assistant referee’s head, two games for protesting, one game for applauding his sending-off and one game for remaining in the stands instead of leaving the stadium after being sent off.
