He Bragantine Brazilian announced a few hours ago that he fined and suspended the defender for one match. Gustavo Marques after the footballer made a sexist statement questioning the fact that a woman was the referee of a match in a men’s tournament.
The team from the city of Bragança Paulista reported in a statement that it imposed a fine equivalent to 50% of a monthly salary on its player “for his sexist statements” and that it will not allow his lineup in next Wednesday’s match against Athletico Paranaense for the Brazilian First Division Championship.
The sanction was motivated by Marques’ sexist statements against referee Daiane Muniz after Saturday’s match in which Bragantino lost to São Paulo and which left the club out of the semifinals of the Paulista Championship. “First, I want to talk about refereeing. Because it is of no use that we play against São Paulo, Palmeiras or Corinthians and that they put a woman to referee a match of this size,” said the defender in statements after the 1-2 defeat at home against São Paulo.
The 24-year-old, on loan from Portuguese side Benfica, also criticized the tournament organizers for appointing a woman to referee the duel. “I think the Paulista Federation has to focus on matches of this size and not put a woman, with all due respect to the women of the world,” he stated. Although Marques publicly apologized for his statement and admitted that even his mother and wife had reproached him for his attitude, his words generated intense controversy about the sexist atmosphere in Brazilian football.
Fine for charitable purposes
The São Paulo club explained in its statement that the value of the fine imposed on the footballer will be donated to the non-governmental organization Rendar, which cares for women in vulnerable situations in Bragança Paulista. Bragantino “maintains conversations with that organization and with others from Bragança Paulista to promote social and educational measures, which have already occurred in the last year and which will be intensified and propagated within the club and in our society,” the statement concludes.
