Forest owner gets stadium ban after Fulham tunnel incident. Nuno touchline ban for Brighton red card
Evangelos Marinakis walks on the pitch at the end of the Europa Conference League semifinal, first leg, soccer match between Aston Villa and Olympiacos at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, Thursday, May 2, 2024. Credit: AP/Rui Vieira
NOTTINGHAM, England — The owner of Nottingham Forest was given a five-match stadium ban on Friday in the latest of a series of sanctions against the Premier League club in recent weeks.
Evangelos Marinakis was charged by the English Football Association for misconduct after Forest's 1-0 loss to Fulham last month in a match that was decided by a contentious, VAR-awarded penalty. The governing body claimed his behavior around the tunnel area after the match at Forest's City Ground was “improper” but did not give specific details of the incident.
An independent panel sanctioned Marinakis with a five-game ban. Forest said it would appeal.
Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo was given a separate punishment on Friday when fined 55,000 pounds ($72,000) and banned from the touchline for two games after being sent off in his team's 2-2 draw with Brighton last month. He admitted using abusive and/or insulting words toward a match official. The FA said the sanction activated a further one-match touchline ban, which had been suspended, making three games in total.
Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White was also sent off in that match and admitted using abusive and/or insulting words toward the fourth official. He was fined 20,000 pounds ($26,000) and suspended for one match.
Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler was also sent off, and he was fined 8,000 pounds ($10,000) for acting in an improper manner.
Forest was fined 750,000 pounds ($980,000) last week for an inflammatory post that got more than 46 million views. The club was found to have questioned the integrity of match officials in an “irresponsible” post on X in April following a 2-0 loss to Everton.
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