Lyon boss Paulo Fonseca has been handed a hefty nine-month ban after clashing with a referee in an ugly confrontation in Ligue 1.
Fonseca was shown a straight red card during Lyon’s 2-1 win over Brest at the start of March and reacted angrily by squaring up to the match referee and pushing his head into the face of Benoit Millot. The Lyon boss subsequently apologised but has now been hit with a nine-month ban for his actions and is barred from the touchline, the bench, the dressing rooms and any official functions before, during or after matches until November 30.
Millot spoke out about Fonseca’s behaviour after the match. He told L’Equipe: “He rushed toward me with an intimidating attitude and I decided to send him off directly. There was, it seems, a slight contact with the nose. [It was] a particularly intimidating, aggressive attitude, which one can hardly imagine from a professional coach.”
President of the disciplinary committee, Sebastien Deneux, said: “The commission deplores that once again, a major player in Ligue 1 has adopted such behaviour and renounced a requirement and an ambition of responsibility. Mr Fonseca is a Ligue 1 coach. He is above all an educator. It goes without saying that this attitude is strictly incompatible with these functions. The committee found that Mr Fonseca’s attitude, throwing himself towards the referee, yelling at him, to the point that they found themselves head to head, is an attitude characteristic of intimidating and threatening behaviour. The committee therefore sanctions Mr Fonseca with a suspension from the touchline and referee’s locker room until 30 November 2025. Because it also finds that this is a serious misconduct, this sanction will also cover access to his own locker room before, during and after the match until 15 September 2025.”
Fonseca only arrived at Lyon in January after being sacked by AC Milan. His tenure at the club has gotten off to a disastrous start, but it remains to be seen how the ban will affect his team. Lyon currently sit in sixth place in the Ligue 1 table and take on FCSB next in the Europa League.
