BEIJING, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced on Friday that Brazilian forward Henrique Dourado of Henan Songshan Longmen has been suspended for 12 months for his "act of violence" against referee Ma Ning in the Chinese Super League (CSL) last Sunday.
"In the 14th round of CSL match between Henan Songshan Longmen and Wuhan Yangtze River, in the 16th minute, Dourado hit the referee's back with excessive force after a long-distance off-ball run, knocking the match official over, which was defined as an act of violence. Dourado was shown a red card and sent off the pitch," read a CFA statement.
"According to the CFA Discipline Code, the CFA disciplinary committee decided to penalize Dourado for a 12-month suspension and 200,000 yuan (about 29,180 U.S. dollars) fine," the statement noted.
A CFA source told Xinhua that the referee Ma, who has been appointed to judge at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, suffered multiple bruises and will not officiate in the next round of CSL.
The Henan side published a statement right after the match last Sunday, saying that the club will accept any penalty the CFA gives them or their players.
"We will mete out our own punishment including fines, suspensions and contract terminations on players who have been shown red cards for on-pitch misbehavior," the club added. ■
