Soccer: Beckham red card overturned by Spanish FA

David Beckham (left) argues with the referee before getting sent off during the Real Madrid-Valencia match. Picture / Reuters

MADRID - David Beckham's red card near the end of Real Madrid's 2-1 defeat by Valencia on Sunday was overturned by the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).

The decision means the England captain will be able to play in Real's league match at Deportivo Coruna.

Real said that the Federation's Competitions Committee had brought forward their weekly meeting in order to deal with a number of matters including their appeal and had informed the club that Beckham was now free to play.

Beckham was sent off three minutes from the end of Sunday's 2-1 defeat at the Bernabeu by referee Arturo Dauden Ibanez after receiving a booking for dissent and then a straight red card for applauding the decision "in a sarcastic manner".

But Real appealed against the red card saying that video evidence and photographs showed that Beckham's clapping was "neither scornful nor sarcastic."

The Competitions Committee decided that Beckham's clapping formed part of his initial protest and therefore the player should only have been punished with the initial booking and not an additional red card.

"The clapping took place when the player's back was turned to the referee and when he was returning to his position on the pitch," said the Committee.

"Although the action is worthy of reproach it was not done in direct confrontation and is seen as part of his original protest.

"Neither the incidents themselves nor the referee's report suggest that there was an intention to insult or slight the referee."

The sending off was Beckham's third since joining Real in 2003 and the sixth in his career.

Earlier this month he became the first England player to be sent off twice when he was dismissed in a World Cup qualifier against Austria.

Real's Danish midfielder Thomas Gravesen was given also given a straight red card in the Valencia match for a reckless challenge on winger Vicente, but the club did not appeal against that decision.

Real have been highly critical of refereeing decisions that have gone against them this season and came close to asking for last month's 1-0 defeat against Espanyol to be annulled because of what they said was a refereeing error but they withdrew their threat at the last minute.

- REUTERS