NWSL issues two additional disciplinary actions to Racing Louisville's Ary Borges and Washington Spirit's Jonatan Giráldez

The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) disciplinary committee on Monday handed down two additional sanctions to a player and coach who were each found to have violated league rules beyond its initial judgements.

In a statement, the NWSL gave Racing Louisville and Brazilian women’s national team forward Ary Borges a further three-match suspension upon further review of her behavior toward a referee after she was given a red card.

The incident occurred in the aftermath of Racing’s April 27 battle of an away match in Portland against the Thorns, which ended in a 3-3 draw that saw two penalties awarded.

The league said that “after further review of the altercation, during which Borges was found to have pushed the center official after receiving the red card, the Disciplinary Committee determined that her conduct violated Section 12.4.10, ‘Major Game Misconduct,’ of the League Operations Manual.”

Borges put out a statement of her own expressing remorse over her actions on the field and calling for change. (Photo: Dylan Buell/NWSL via Getty Images)

Following that match, Thorns midfielder Jessie Fleming called the game, in which a league-record 41 fouls were called, among “the most frustrating” she’s ever competed in.

“I do think that match can’t keep happening in this league,” she said in a press conference. “I think it’s embarrassing. It alters the match. It alters, really, the sport.”

Borges put out a statement of her own that day on social media expressing remorse over her actions on the field and, like Fleming, calling for change.

“First I would like to apologize for the red card at the end of the match, I ended up getting carried away by the emotional side at the moment,” she wrote.

“I’m not much of talking about referees because they are things that are beyond our control but what happened today in the match was a shame. At the level of this league, it is not acceptable to have someone commanding a match like it was today.”

The league’s recent decision has increased the total match ban from one (for the initial red card) to four for Borges, who has scored one goal for Racing so far this season.

Borges, 25, served her first suspension on May 2 when Racing took on the Spirit in a 2-0 loss. She did not travel for Racing’s match last weekend against the Houston Dash, a 2-1 victory, and will sit out the team’s next three matches from May 9 until May 24.

Racing’s June 6 match against the Utah Royals will be the next for which Borges is eligible to play. Racing sit in 11th place in the table.

An additional action was also taken against Washington Spirit head coach Jonatan Giráldez for his conduct during the Spirit’s rivalry match against New Jersey/New York Gotham FC at home on April 26.

Giráldez, who is in his first full season with the Spirit after joining the team from Barcelona midway through last season.

In the final minutes of second-half stoppage time, Giraldez was handed a straight red card for entering Gotham’s technical area. The Spirit, ranked sixth in the league, lost 3-0.

According to the NWSL, after receiving the card, “Giráldez failed to exit the field as required by the NWSL following ejection from a match,” which violated Section 12.4.1 (E) of the operations guide, which addresses sendoffs and dismissals.

As a result, Giráldez will now miss one more match on top of the one-game ban he served last Friday in the Spirit’s 4-3 loss to Angel City at Audi Field. He will be authorized to return after his team’s May 10 game against the Chicago Stars.

(Photo: Ira L. Black – Corbis/Getty Images)