Footballer banned for 50 years after kicking ball in referee’s face

Posted Sunday, November 02, 2014 by theguardian.com

Ricardo Ferreira said ‘football’s my life’ after being banned for 50 years after kicking a ball in a referee’s face. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/Tom Jenkins

A fourth division player in Switzerland has been handed a 50-year ban after kicking a ball in the referee’s face and then spraying him with water.

According to the Swiss newspaper Blick, the defender Ricardo Ferreira of Portugal Futebol Clube was an unused substitute in the 1-0 defeat by SC Worb in the local Bern league. But it was not until after the match that he entered the fray, kicking the ball in the referee’s face and then hurling insults as the official made his way to the tunnel before squirting him with water.

"We do not want such a player in our league,” said Robert Breiter, the lawyer of Switzerland’s amateur football league.

"Unfortunately we encounter such cases about once a year.”

Ferreira has previously found himself in hot water with the authorities, having once been banned for 45 matches after being found guilty of assaulting opposition players and abusing officials.

"I had expected one or two years maximum. But 50 years? Football’s my life,” he said.

Ferreira’s new suspension is officially for an indefinite period but because the governing body’s computer requires an end date, it was set 50 years later. That means he will be free to return to football on 5 June, 2064, when he will be 78.