Alli fined £50,000 and banned for one match over mocking coronavirus video

Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli said he was “betrayed” by a friend who sold a private Snapchat video of him mocking coronavirus – an act that has landed him a one-match ban.

Alli, pictured, will miss his side’s first Premier League game of the restart against

Manchester United next week after the Football Association finally delivered its ruling on a case that has been ongoing since February.

He has also been fined £50,000 and must attend an educational course after being found guilty of an “aggravated breach” of Rule E3, which included a reference to race and/or colour and/or ethnic origin and/or nationality .

The 24-year-old posted a video of himself wearing a mask in an airport lounge on 6 February before zooming in on an Asian man, with the caption “Corona whattttt, please listen with volume”.

The video was promptly deleted and Alli posted an apology, but not before one of the 160 recipients on his close friends list on Snapchat had copied it and sold it to a national newspaper.

Alli insisted at Monday’s hearing, although the video did not pick up the Asian man coughing, that is the reason he zoomed in on him rather than because of his race.

But the three-man regulatory commission ruled that Alli was making an obvious connection between an Asian man and the virus, which at the time had not spread to Europe or become a global pandemic.

Alli said on the club’s official website: “In response to the FA decision, I would like to apologise again for any offence caused by my behaviour.

“It was an extremely poorly judged joke about a virus that has now affected us more than we could ever have imagined.

“I’m grateful that the FA has confirmed that my actions were not racist because I despise racism of any kind.

“We all need to be mindful of the words and actions we use and how they can be perceived by others.”