Shanghai player gets 6-month ban

A Chinese player with Shenhua Shanghai has been handed a six month ban by the Chinese Football Association for stomping on Belgian international Axel Witsel, an action which has already earned him a hefty fine.

During a bad-tempered encounter on March 11, Qin Sheng received a straight red card for stomping on the left foot of Tianjin Quanjian's Witsel as they waited for a corner to be taken.

Qin has already been suspended for three matches in the Chinese Super League and his club has slapped him with a 300,000 yuan ($43,000, 41,000 euro) fine, a huge sum for many Chinese footballers who do not command the inflated salaries of their foreign teammates.

But in a statement released Friday the football association said it had decided to increase the punishment by banning Qin from all CSL matches for six month, until September 11.

The CFA also handed him a further fine of 120,000 yuan for the "malicious" tackle which had "a huge and deplorable impact on society".

"The offending club must seriously strengthen the education of its players and officials, clean up morals on the ground, stop violations of the rules," Wang Xiaoping, head of the CFA's disciplinary committee, said.

Shanghai Shenhua had also denounced Qin's "abominable" behaviour and threatened to drop him for the rest of his career if he did not mend his ways.