UEFA investigate Jude Bellingham gesture after England equaliser against Slovakia

The Three Lions star has played down the incident
Jamie Gardner1 July 2024

England midfielder Jude Bellingham is being investigated by UEFA over a gesture he made after scoring a late equaliser against Slovakia.

The Real Madrid star appeared to gesture toward the Slovakian bench after his overhead kick brought England level in the dying seconds of injury time in Gelsenkirchen.

UEFA released a statement on Monday which said: "A UEFA ethics and disciplinary inspector will conduct a disciplinary investigation regarding a potential violation of the basic rules of decent conduct by the English Football Association player, Jude Bellingham, having allegedly occurred in the scope of this match.

"Information on this matter will be made available in due course."

Bellingham posted on X about the gesture in the hours after the match, saying: "An inside joke gesture towards some close friends who were at the game. Nothing but respect for how that Slovakia team played tonight."

The Football Association has also been charged over a "lack of order or discipline" from supporters and over fans lighting fireworks.

Albania player Mirlind Daku was given a two-match ban after being found guilty of four breaches of UEFA disciplinary rules earlier in the tournament, after he picked up a megaphone to lead his country's fans in nationalistic chanting.

Based on how UEFA has dealt with similar offences to Bellingham's in the past a suspension would be highly unlikely, and it may be that after seeking observations from the 21-year-old the investigator may decide there is insufficient evidence to bring a charge.

Bellingham's goal forced extra time, with Harry Kane scoring England's winner early on in the additional period to complete the comeback.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in