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Tottenham star Dele Alli charged by FA over coronavirus Snapchat video

Snapchat/Dele Alli
Snapchat/Dele Alli

Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli is facing a ban after being charged with misconduct by the Football Association for his posting a video on social media mocking the coronavirus outbreak.

The Tottenham has until March 5 to potentially appeal against the charge, which is likely to result in a fine and match-ban as well as a mandatory education course.

Losing Alli for any length of time would be another blow to Spurs manager Jose Mourinho, who is already expecting to be without forwards Harry Kane and Heung-min Son until May due to the injuries.

The 23-year-old will definitely be available for Saturday's home match against Wolves and the visit of Norwich in the FA Cup fifth round on March 4 and, after receiving his response, the FA's regulatory commission, which decides any punishment, will sit within ten days.

There are no set sanctions for improper use of social media but, in a not dissimilar case in November, Manchester City's Bernardo Silva was banned for one match and fined £50,000 after an FA commission found he had "unquestionably" brought the game into disrepute with a tweet about teammate Benjamin Mendy.

During Spurs' winter-break, Alli posted a video on his personal Snapchat account in which he appeared to mock an Asian man and the deadly coronavirus outbreak.

The video showed Alli wearing a face mask in an airport departure lounge, accompanied by the message: “Corona whattt, please listen with volume.”

He then zoomed the camera towards an unsuspecting man of Asian appearance before cutting to a bottle of antiseptic hand-wash captioned: “This virus gunna have to be quicker than that to catch me.” Alli was en route to Dubai for a short holiday.

The video was deleted after a flurry of complaints and Alli has issued two public apologies, including in a video posted to Chinese social media platform Weibo. "It wasn’t funny. I realised that immediately and took it down. I let myself down and the club," he said.

Mourinho has said it would be "unnecessary" to ban Alli because the England international immediately regretting his actions.

(AFP via Getty Images)
(AFP via Getty Images)

"I feel that would be unnecessary, but I am nobody," the Portuguese said. "I think it is unnecessary because the player understands the naivety of the situation, the player is a good guy, the player even in the dressing room has a big Asian friend that he loves [Son]. So there was no intention at all. He immediately regrets, immediately makes a public apology. I feel it is unnecessary but I am nobody.

"I think he learned the lesson immediately with the embarrassment and he didn’t need much time to realise again the childish or naivety of the situation. I feel unnecessary. I don’t feel we need more than that."

The FA found Alli's post breached Rule E3(1), as it was "insulting and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute".

The video was also deemed an “Aggravated Breach” under Rule E3(2), as it included a reference, whether express or implied, to race and/or colour and/or ethnic origin and/or nationality.

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