On Thursday, the Panamanian Football Federation announced that it had been “informed of a sanction imposed on Mr. Manuel Arias” by the FIFA Ethics Committee for “inappropriate comments towards a player of the national team Panamanian women’. FIFA has in fact decided to suspend for six months the president of the Panamanian Federation, who had described Marta Cox, Fenerbahçe player and member of the national team, as “fat”.
The incident is not recent, dating back to March 2023, when Cox criticized the Panamanian women’s league after their elimination from the Gold Cup. “Marta Cox… is fat, she couldn’t move around the field,” famous Manuel Arias said in response to a question from a local media outlet. Following this, Cox threatened to quit the national team unless an apology was made, prompting the president to finally apologize publicly, admitting he had made a “serious mistake”.
FIFA’s lengthy investigation, which lasted two years despite the perpetrator admitting his mistake, raises questions about the effectiveness of the organization, particularly in comparison with that of local investigative bodies.
