FIFA Bans Dele Alli For A Match After Middle Finger Gesture

FIFA has banned England midfielder, Dele Alli, for one international match following his middle-finger gesture in the 2018 World Cup qualifier against Slovakia.

Alli was also fined 5,000 Swiss francs (£3,852) by the governing body, which described the gesture as “offensive and unsporting.”

The 21-year-old will now miss Thursday’s World Cup qualifier against Slovenia at Wembley. He will however be available for the match against Lithuania on Sunday.

Alli had insisted the gesture was a “joke” directed at friend and former club-mate, Kyle Walker, a claim supported by the Football Association (FA), Southgate and Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino.

He made the gesture 13 minutes from time, in the 2-1 win home over Slovakia, after his appeals for a free kick were waved away by referee Clement Turpin.