Chelsea Football Club and former manager Jose Mourinho have reached a settlement with former team doctor Eva Carneiro over claims that Carneiro was wrongfully dismissed from her position and sexually discriminated against by Mourinho.
This news comes a day after the former Chelsea doctor reportedly turned down a £1.2 million settlement offer from the club. Carneiro withdrew her claim on Tuesday, with the settlement imagined to be north of the previously rumoured £1.2 million offer.
Chelsea Football Club’s official, from the club website statement read:
The club regrets the circumstances which led to Dr Carneiro leaving the club and apologises unreservedly to her and her family for the distress caused. We wish to place on record that in running onto the pitch Dr Carneiro was following both the rules of the game and fulfilling her responsibility to the players as a doctor, putting their safety first.
Dr Carneiro has always put the interests of the club’s players first. Dr Carneiro is a highly competent and professional sports doctor. She was a valued member of the club’s medical team and we wish her every success in her future career.
Jose Mourinho also thanks Dr Carneiro for the excellent and dedicated support she provided as First Team Doctor and he wishes her a successful career.
Carneiro added her own statement, saying:
I am relieved that today we have been able to conclude this tribunal case. It has been an extremely difficult and distressing time for me and my family and I now look forward to moving forward with my life.
My priority has always been the health and safety of the players and fulfilling my duty of care as a doctor. In running onto the pitch to treat a player, who requested medical attention, I was following the rules of the game and fulfilling my medical responsibilities.
I would like to thank everyone who has supported me including my husband, family and friends and members of the football community.
The incident in which Carneiro claims to have been sexually discriminated against came on the opening day of Chelsea’s title-defending campaign when she and first team physio Jon Fearn entered the pitch to treat Eden Hazard.
As she ran on to the pitch, Carneiro claims Mourinho shouted the Portuguese phrase “filha da puta,” which means “daughter of a whore.”
Hazard had to leave the field of play, forcing Chelsea to play with nine men during a crucial stage of the match, which it went on to draw against Swansea, 2-2.
In his post-match comments, Mourinho criticised Carneiro and Fearn for being “impulsive and naive.”
Other allegations of sexual discrimination that Carneiro and Mary O’Rourke QC, acting for Carneiro, told the tribunal include:
- On 10 August, Mourinho allegedly told Steve Atkins, head of communications and public relations at Chelsea, that he did not want Carneiro on the bench at the Manchester City match, stating “she works in academy team or ladies team, not with me.”
- Chelsea did not take action on complaints about sexually explicit chanting at various away games – particularly Manchester United and West Ham – as well as a lack of female changing facilities.
- Carneiro was not provided with a club suit and regularly had to endure sexually explicit comments from her colleagues.
The settlement will leave a black eye on the club for now, but something I’m certain that incoming manager Antonio Conte will be glad is settled before he takes over the helm at Stamford Bridge.
