Chongqing’s Dutch coach Arie Haan has been banned from the sidelines for three Chinese Super League (CSL) matches after complaining about a penalty decision by offering the fourth official a wad of cash last weekend.
“Do you want money?” local media reports quoted Haan as asking the official after league leaders Beijing Guoan were awarded a penalty in Sunday’s 3-2 win for bottom club Chongqing.
Pictures in local media showed Haan gesturing toward the official with a handful of 100 yuan (US$14.64) notes.
PHOTO: EPA
The former China coach was also fined 15,000 yuan by the Chinese Football Association (CFA) for “insulting the fourth official in an immoral way,” the CFA said on its Web site, www.fa.org.cn.
The CFA said Haan’s gesture had had a “negative social impact.”
The suspension comes on the heels of a lifetime ban the CFA handed down to a Chinese player who chased a referee for half the field before pushing him to the ground in a provincial-level game.
Chinese soccer’s problems have extended to women’s soccer, with a fight breaking out earlier this week between Chinese and Australian players at the Under 19 Asian Championships. Fans in Wuhan in central China then pelted the Australians with plastic bottles as they left the field after losing 2-1.
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