Conmebol sanciona a Villa con 6 fechas y $30.000 por agresiones en Brasil

The bill came due on a Friday in October when South American soccer's governing body handed down its judgment on what had unfolded three months earlier in a Brazilian stadium tunnel. Sebastián Villa, a Colombian forward for Boca Juniors, would be suspended for six matches and fined $30,000 for his role in a violent confrontation that had left the sport's reputation bruised and several people gasping for air.

The incident occurred on July 20 in Belo Horizonte, after Boca's elimination from the Copa Libertadores at the hands of Atlético Mineiro. The match itself had been contentious—VAR had disallowed a Boca goal in the first half on a marginal offside call—but the real explosion happened in the tunnel as players and staff left the field. Video evidence showed Villa hurling a dispenser at security personnel. His teammate Jorge Bermúdez, a member of Boca's football council, was captured on camera hurling insults. The team's coaching staff, including manager Miguel Ángel Russo, protested loudly. What began as heated words escalated into physical aggression: Boca players knocked over barriers and threw objects at Brazilian police and Atlético Mineiro players. The security response was swift and severe. Officers deployed pepper spray and tear gas, forcing some members of the Boca delegation to flee to the stadium stands just to breathe.

The entire delegation was transported to a police station in Belo Horizonte, where they spent twelve hours giving statements before being released on bail. Now Conmebol's Disciplinary Commission had rendered its verdict, and it was sweeping. Villa faced the same six-match ban and $30,000 fine as Argentine winger Cristián Pavón. Defender Marcos Rojo received five matches and $25,000. Center back Carlos Izquierdoz got four matches and $20,000. Midfielder Diego González drew three matches and $15,000. Goalkeeper Javier García received two matches and $10,000. But the harshest penalties fell on the club's leadership. Raúl Cascini and Marcelo Delgado, both members of Boca's football council and former players, were banned from entering any stadium during Conmebol competitions for twenty-four months and each fined $30,000. Assistant coach Leandro Somoza received six matches and $30,000. Goalkeeper coach Fernando Gayoso got three matches and $15,000.

The sanctions reflected Conmebol's determination to punish not just the players but the institutional failure that had allowed the situation to spiral. The tunnel incident had not emerged from nowhere. Earlier in the match, a Boca goal had been disallowed after VAR review—a decision that infuriated the team's bench and coaching staff. The goal, scored by Diego González in the first half, had been ruled out on the grounds that González was in an offside position and had attempted to interfere with the goalkeeper. The review had taken several minutes, and during that time, tensions had visibly escalated on the sideline. Russo and his staff had protested vehemently. By the time the match ended in a penalty shootout loss, the frustration had metastasized into something darker.

This was not Boca's first brush with VAR controversy that season. In the first leg at home, another Boca goal had been disallowed after a lengthy review, this time for a foul in the buildup. That decision too had sparked outrage. The cumulative effect of two controversial calls in a knockout tie had worn down whatever restraint the team's leadership might have otherwise exercised. When the second leg went against them in similar fashion, something broke. The tunnel became a place where professional boundaries dissolved entirely.

Conmebol's response signaled that such conduct would carry real consequences. The fines alone totaled more than $300,000 across all the sanctioned individuals. The match bans would keep key players sidelined for weeks. For Cascini and Delgado, the twenty-four-month stadium ban was effectively a removal from their roles during Conmebol competitions, a humiliation that extended far beyond any single match. The organization had also suspended the referee and VAR official from the match pending further review, acknowledging that the controversial decisions had contributed to the atmosphere that made the explosion possible. Yet that acknowledgment did not erase what had happened in the tunnel, nor did it undo the damage to Boca's reputation or the physical toll on those exposed to chemical agents. The incident had become a cautionary tale about how quickly professional sport could descend into chaos when institutional control fractured.