Former Real Madrid left-back Fabio Coentrao has been handed a one-match ban and an €850 fine — a year after he retired from football to pursue a career as a fisherman.
Coentrao, 34, received the punishment from the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) for “insults and reputational offences” while playing for Rio Ave in a heated 3-3 draw with Boavista in April last year.
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But the former Portugal international has not played since he left Rio Ave last year to concentrate on managing a fleet of fishing boats.
The FPF and the Liga Portugal have blamed each other for the delay in charging Coentrao, with the FPF claiming they informed the league on two occasions of the potential for cases to run over, while the league responded to say that “the speed in processing all disciplinary proceedings” is “always an objective of our committee.”
Coentrao briefly came out of retirement to sign a one-year deal with boyhood club Rio Ave in 2020 but now owns three fishing boats in Setubal in his native Portugal, with around 45 people working for him.
“My father always had a boat, he was really into fishing,” Coentrao said in an interview in December.
“I knew that football would one day end, I would have to take another direction in my life, and my happiness is this land and the sea, I wanted to lead this life.
“There is no shame in life at sea as many people think. True men are those who go to the sea. I want to reach my 40s and have 10 ships.
“When I was 15 I wanted to make it to Real Madrid and I knew I had a long journey ahead of me, a very difficult one, and I know that here, maybe it’s going to be harder but I’m a very optimistic person. I’m very confident in myself.”
Coentrao played for Benfica, Madrid, Monaco and Sporting Lisbon among other clubs during his career and made 52 appearances for Portugal from 2009-2017.
ESPN’s Adriana Garcia contributed to this report.
