A €16,320 fine imposed on Benfica for Vlachodimos’ insults against Porto has been waived as a result of an amnesty for the Pope’s visit to Portugal in 2023, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAD) said on Tuesday.
Benfica approached the TAD after the Disciplinary Council (CD) of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) sentenced it to a fine of 16,320 euros for “damaging the honor and reputation of the bodies of the sports body and its members.”
The CD’s punishment followed the publication on the Benfica Play platform of “alleged offensive language favored by then-player Odysseas Vlachodimos” against FC Porto following the Eagles’ 1-0 win in a “classic” match. October 21, 2022
The decision of the TAD arbitration panel, adopted by a majority vote on March 4 and published on Tuesday on its website, finds amnesty for the violation for which Benfica was convicted by the CD FPF.
In September 2023, the case of a Greek national team goalkeeper currently employed by English club Nottingham Forest was also archived due to an amnesty law in connection with Pope Francis’ visit to Portugal for World Youth Day.
It was about Vlachodimos’s unflattering words after the “classic” Porto Benfica football club, already in the dressing room of the Estádio do Dragao, was made public after the release of the third episode of a documentary about the Lisbon club, which was broadcast on Benfica Play, an audiovisual content platform eagles’.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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