6 China youth internationals get 6-month ban for flouting rules
Six of China's Under-19 internationals have been banned from playing for six months and forced to write self-criticism essays, after flouting coronavirus prevention rules to go drinking late at night.
The Chinese Football Association (CFA) suspended the six until the end of November.
The players were hit with additional penalties by their clubs after they were discovered leaving the team's Shanghai training base on May 30 without permission.
"It was a severe violation of the team's epidemic control regulations and negatively affected the whole team," Xinhua news agency quoted the CFA as saying.
The players are banned from all matches organised by the CFA until Nov 30 and will also not be allowed to feature for the national team at any level during that time.
Three of the players, Ren Lihao, Liu Zhurun and Peng Hao, have had their wages suspended by their club Shanghai SIPG, the former Chinese Super League champions said.
Under-19 coach Cheng Yaodong told Soccer News yesterday: "We used the harshest language at the time, gave them a dressing-down and said a lot of harsh words."
While the rest of the squad trained, the six players were made to write self-reflection essays, said Cheng.
Some of them had to do it twice.- AFP
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