Eva Carneiro: Repeat of Chelsea team doctor saga should lead to sanctions says the FA

Chelsea will face disciplinary action should they repeat the intervention that led to the exit of team doctor Eva Carneiro. The Football Association wants to make the episode that saw her stripped of duties by manager Jose Mourinho after she treated Eden Hazard, alongside club physio Jon Fearn, during a Premier League match an offence.

Carneiro has since left the club after seeing her role downscaled by Mourinho, who disagreed with her running on to the field to treat the midfielder during the draw with Swansea City. The Chelsea manager has since been cleared by the FA over alleged use of discriminatory language after lashing out at the medic during the game that saw the Blues temporarily reduced to nine men. Carneiro, meanwhile, is in the process of taking legal action against the Premier League holders.

But should Chelsea or any other rival club repeat the undermining of medical officials, the FA is keen to impose sanctions. FA board member Heather Rabbatts says the governing body will look at following up future incidents with a variety of punishments.

"We have to look within the FA at the processes, and I am sure that is something we will be doing in the forthcoming weeks in conversations with them," she said, speaking at the Leaders Sport Business Summit at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge ground. "The issues of safeguarding players is clearly vitally important. I think there are a number of concerns out there shared by the doctors and the associations practitioners on this."

"It may well be that we need to think about more effective sanctions if those protocols that are currently in place are breached," she added on ensuring incidents such as the one involving Chelsea do not reoccur. "Maybe we need to think about it being a disciplinary offence if there is any interference between the referee and the medical staff.

"There are number of things that we need to look at now and reflect on how better we can all be across the game when incidents like this happen. As I have previously said I sincerely hope that we see Eva Carneiro back in the game."

The Leaders in Sport Business Summit was held at Stamford Bridge to gather the industry's most influential people to share insights and spark discussions that will help shape the future of sport.