Ronald Araújo was penalized by Conmebol. The Uruguayan defender and several of his teammates from the Uruguayan national team were sanctioned on August 28 by the Disciplinary Commission of the South American confederation, due to the incidents that occurred last July with Colombian fans in the semifinal match of the Copa América 2024.
The events for which the players were suspended occurred after the team led by Marcelo Bielsa fell 1-0 to Colombia. The brawl that took place at the Bank of America Stadium was born from the provocation of Colombian fans towards Uruguayan fans and relatives of the Uruguayan players, who were in the stands behind the Celeste bench. It was the attacks on these relatives that provoked the reaction of the footballers, who jumped into the stands to defend their own.
The most involved was Darwin Núñez, who teammates like Araújo and José María Giménez tried to stop before the situation got out of hand. However, Conmebol opened a file and there are more than 8 sanctioned players. Meanwhile, the manager Marcelo García, who was in a box during the match and attacked a Colombian fan with a bottle, was penalized with a ban from entering stadiums in Conmebol competitions for a period of six months.
Conmebol sanctions to Araújo and Uruguay
In the case of the FC Barcelona defender, he will miss three matches and received a fine of 12,000 dollars. This same punishment applied to Mathías Olivera and José María Giménez. Rodrigo Bentancur was sanctioned with four matches and a fine of 16,000$, while Darwin Núñez was the most affected with five matches without playing for Uruguay and a fine of 20,000$.
Other players involved in the incident, such as Sebastián Cáceres, Matías Viña, Emiliano Martínez, Brian Rodríguez, Santiago Mele and Facundo Pellistri, will each have to pay a fine of $5,000 and the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) was also fined $20,000 for "collective aggression, brawl or riot." All of these sanctions will be applied in the next matches of the South American Qualifiers, so it will be a hard blow for Bielsa.
It should be noted that the Barcelona center back was also going to miss these qualifying matches because in the match between Uruguay and Brazil in the quarter-finals of the Copa América he suffered a muscle injury in the hamstring of his right leg. The Uruguayan was operated on and will be out for more than four months, so it remains to be seen if the sanction will apply or will have already expired when he returns.