Referee Punished After Asking Messi For His Shirt

Concacaf has disciplined referee, Marco Antonio Ortiz Nava, after he appeared to ask Inter Miami forward, Lionel Messi, for his shirt following their Champions Cup win over Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday night.

Nava approached Messi after the final whistle and seemed to request for his jersey.

The referee later claimed he was asking for an autograph for a relative with special needs.

However, his actions breached the code of conduct for Concacaf officials.

A statement made available to ESPN, read in part: The referees conduct does not align with the Confederations Code of Conduct for match officials and existing processes for these types of requests.