Five fully paid Benfica members have their memberships temporarily suspended due to alleged planning of racist activities..
2026-03-01 06:53
Benfica announced on its official website on Saturday that it has temporarily suspended the memberships of five fans who allegedly planned racist activities at its home stadium during the Champions League match against Real Madrid, effective immediately.
According to Benfica's official statement, these five fans are members of the official "Red Passes" fan group and are paid full members of the club who are eligible to vote on the board of directors.
These five individuals are suspected of planning racist activities against Real Madrid players and fans during the first leg of the Champions League match between the two clubs on February 17, 2025, at Benfica's home stadium, the Estádio da Luz, a serious breach of the code of conduct expected of paid full members of the club.
Benfica has zero tolerance for such egregious behaviour and has commissioned its Ethics and Disciplinary Committee to investigate.
During the investigation, the memberships of these five fans will be temporarily suspended. During the suspension, they are prohibited from participating in any Benfica-related football activities and from entering the club's stadium, training ground, or official flagship store.
If the allegations are true, the club reserves the right to permanently revoke their membership and blacklist them.
This incident is part of the ongoing controversy surrounding Benfica's Argentina international attacking midfielder Gianluca Prestianni's alleged racism against Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior.
This ugly controversy occurred on February 17, 2026, during Benfica's UEFA Champions League Round of 16s play-off match against Real Madrid. Prestianni suddenly pulled up his shirt collar and covered his mouth, seemingly calling Vinícius Júnior "a monkey" several times.
Upon hearing this, Vinícius immediately left the pitch, halting the game for nearly 10 minutes. During this time, his teammate Kylian Mbappé also spoke out, condemning Prestianni as a "disgusting racist" and demanding he leave the stadium.
After the match, Prestianni maintained that he did not racially abused Vinícius Júnior, but rather shouted some homophobic slurs at him.
Benfica head coach José Mourinho also argued that Prestianni "could not be a racist" because the club's greatest player in history was the late legend Eusébio who is of African descent.
However, his statement drew criticism from numerous media outlets in Europe and America, including DAZN Canada, as well as Bayern Munich head coach Vincent Kompany, who considered it naive and extremely irresponsible.
Both the DAZN journalists and Kompany ridiculed Mourinho, saying that when Eusébio played for Benfica, Mourinho was still an infant, and unless he was already in the footballing industry of that time (the early 1960s), he simply wouldn't know the extent to which the greatest Portuguese legend, who was born in Mozambique, was discriminated against because of his skin color and racial background.
On February 22, 2026, UEFA's Ethics and Disciplinary Committee announced an investigation into the incident.
Two days later, UEFA announced an administrative ban of Prestianni for one match, confirming that if convicted, the player would face a 10-match ban, a fine, or both. The Portuguese Primeira Liga giants also stated they would appeal the ban.
Meanwhile, The Times revealed that Prestianni claimed that Vinícius repeatedly called him a "dwarf," prompting his response with "homophobic slurs," but this explanation and appeal were immediately rejected by UEFA.
Image source: Internet / The Athletic
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