Coach Park Hang-seo has been fined US$5,000 fine and suspended for four games for the red card he received during the final match of last year's SEA Games.
Coach Hang-seo got a red card and was sent off the field on December 10 for excessive arguing with the referee after an Indonesian player was not penalized for tackling a Vietnamese player.
Recently, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Disciplinary and Ethics Committee decided to punish him for having used “offensive, insulting and/or abusive language towards the referee(s)” and engaged in “serious infringements punishable by an expulsion” under Article 47 of the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Code. The governing body also noted that the South Korean native could receive harsher repercussions were he to commit similar offenses in the future.
Ultimately the decision is largely toothless, according to Tuoi Tre, as the SEA Games football matches do not belong to the competition system of the world football governing body FIFA or the AFC, so the suspension only applies to friendly matches, and not matches such as those in the upcoming World Cup qualifying round in March.
Moreover, the cash penalty is unlikely to hurt the popular coach much, as he signed a new contract in November. While the exact figures were not disclosed, it is rumored to be the highest for any Vietnam football team coach and was made possible with the assistance of private enterprises.
[Photo via Dai Doan Ket]
