The English Football Association panel banned Edinson Cavani for three matches despite accepting the Manchester United striker was not racist and had not known his language was offensive.
Cavani hadn’t been in England long in October when he posted a public message to a friend on Instagram using a Spanish term for Black people which he said was intended as an affectionate greeting.
The full findings of the FA regulatory commission were published on Thursday, explaining why the Uruguayan received the minimum three-game suspension in the regulations.
“The commission were satisfied that the player wrote his reply in affectionate appreciation of a message from his Uruguayan friend and that it was not designed or intended to be racist or offensive either to his friend or others reading the content of the Instagram post,” the three-person FA commission said.