FA Charges Manchester City's Pep Guardiola for 'Wearing a Political Message'

The Man City manager wears a yellow ribbon in support of imprisoned Catalan politicians following civil unrest in Barcelona.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has been charged by the Football Association for breaching the kit and advertising regulations with a political message in the form of a yellow ribbon. 

The ribbon symbolizes the support of imprisoned Catalan politicians following civil unrest in Barcelona amid the province's independence referendum. 

"Pep Guardiola has been charged for wearing a political message, specifically a yellow ribbon, in breach of The FA’s kit and advertising regulations," a statement from the FA read.

The 47-year-old now has until Monday, March 5 to respond to the charges set by English football's governing body. 

According to the BBC, the FA had already spoken to Guardiola about the issue in mid-December, and two formal warnings were ignored.

The report claims that the charge was then triggered during City's shock FA Cup exit to Wigan Athletic on Monday, where once again the ribbon was visible.

When asked about the ribbon in November, the Catalan man stated: "If one day in prison was already too much, look how many days they've been there now.

"Like everybody knows, hopefully, sooner or later I can stop wearing it."

All the politicians that are in prison, I hope they can leave and go back home soon with their families and continue living the lives they deserve."

Guardiola's support for the exiled politicians was thrown into the spotlight once again last week, with Spanish news outlet AS claiming police searched the City boss' plane in El Prat airport, Barcelona in the hunt for leader Carles Puigdemont.