Medhi Benatia, the football director for Olympique de Marseille, is having his appeal against a three-month suspension reviewed by the French Football Federation. This suspension was initially given after an incident during a Coupe de France match against Lille in January.
Benatia was shown a red card for strongly protesting for a penalty to the fourth official, Jérémy Stinat. He was subsequently suspended for three months, and has already served one month of this ban.
Olivier Létang, the president of Lille, was also suspended for a month for grabbing Stinat’s arm while complaining about time management during the same match. Marseille felt the suspensions were inconsistent, especially in Benatia’s case, and expressed concerns about what they saw as unfair targeting of their football director.
These incidents occurred before further controversies involving Marseille, including a 15-match suspension for club president Pablo Longoria for criticizing refereeing and making corruption allegations. Institutional advisor Fabrizio Ravanelli also received a three-match ban for less severe criticism of Ligue 1 refereeing. Notably, the same referee, Jérémy Stinat, who was involved in the Marseille-Lille situation, also sent off Marseille defender Derek Cornelius in a later game against Auxerre.