Article by Cosmin Nistor – Published on Thursday, 05 March 2026, 17:48 / Updated on Thursday, 05 March 2026 17:48
Defender Gustavo Marques (24 years old), registered at Benfica and on loan at Red Bull Bragantino (Brazil), was suspended for 12 matches and fined 5,000 euros, following sexist remarks addressed to the referee in the match his team lost, score 1-2, against the formation São Paulo.
The decision was made by the Court of Sports Justice of the State of Sao Paulo, after the controversial statements made to the referee Daiane Muniz.
Comments that led to player ban: “She ruined our game”
The incident took place after Bragantino's 2-1 loss to Sao Paulo in the quarter-finals of the domestic championship. At the end of the game, Gustavo Marques harshly criticized the delegation of a woman in the center after his team called for a penalty in the final minutes.
“It was our dream to reach the semi-finals or even the final, but she ruined our game. I think the Federation needs to look at games of this magnitude and not appoint a woman. There's no point playing Sao Paulo, Palmeiras or Corinthians and having a woman referee,” said the defender.
The statements were deemed discriminatory and the sanction applies to state competitions in Brazil. Later, the Brazilian player went back on the statements and publicly apologized for the words spoken on nerves.
“I want to publicly apologize to all women for my statement. I know that every human being makes mistakes. At that time I was very nervous and I said things I shouldn't have said“, said Gustavo Marques, according to abola.pt.
The defender stated that he personally apologized to referee Daiane Muniz, and she would have accepted his explanations.
-
In addition to the sanction of the sports court, Red Bull Bragantino decided to punish him internally. The club fined him 50% of his salary. The withheld amount was donated to a local NGO that supports women in vulnerable situations in the Braganca Paulista region, notes the quoted source.
Gigi Becali, identical slip, without disciplinary sanctions: “What should a woman look for?”
A similar case recently took place in Romania. The boss of FCSB, Gigi Becali, harshly criticized the delegation of Iuliana Demetrescu before the match won by his team with Metaloglobus.
“What should a woman look for? Go to women, women's football and referee women, because you have women's football. What are you looking for? Don't we have men to referee? They didn't delegate it to irritate me. But to show them. They want to show. To show that they also have women, that the woman can also arbitrate. He caught this satanic air, he caught the satanic seed in the world.”said Becali.
Unlike the case in Brazil, the claims of the FCSB boss were not followed by disciplinary sanctions.
