March 6 – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has accepted a Football Association charge over “wearing a political message” during matches, specifically a yellow ribbon in support of jailed pro-independence politicians in his native Catalonia.
The former Barcelona boss has continually sported the ribbon in both Premier League and European games, prompting the FA to charge him for violating their regulations.
The FA spoke to the City boss about the situation in December and had previously issued two formal warnings.
Two key members of the Catalan independence movement were held without bail after the independence vote in October, which the Spanish government deemed illegal.
Guardiola said in November: “If one day in prison was already too much, look how many days they’ve been there now. Like everybody knows, hopefully sooner or later I can stop wearing it. All the politicians that are in prison, I hope they can leave and go back home soon with their families and continue living the lives they deserve.”
Guardiola is expected to continue to wear the yellow ribbon when he can – in other words pre- and post-match. It’s only pitchside, during the 90 minutes of the game, where the Football Association’s regulation applies.
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