The Chinese Football Association (CFA) on Friday handed Shanghai Greenland midfielder Qin Sheng a six-month ban for deliberately stamping on Tianjin Quanjian's Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel.
Qin, 30, was also fined 120,000 yuan (about $17,400) following the incident in the March 11 Chinese Super League (CSL) match between Shanghai and Tianjin, when the two were shoving each other for better position, reports Xinhua news agency.
The match referee gave Qin his marching orders on the spot and Qin apologised on his social media account later on.
Qin also received severe punishment from his club as he was relegated to the reserves, and fined 300,000 yuan ($43,552). What's more, his monthly salary was cut down to a poor 2190 yuan ($318) by the club.
Another Shanghai midfielder, Sun Shilin also received punishment from the CFA -- a two-game ban and a fine of 10,000 yuan ($1452) for giving a thumbs-up after Tianjin's Pato missed a penalty in the same match, which drew 1-1 in Shanghai.
--IANS
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