Super Eagles and Chelsea FC midfielder, Mikel Obi, has been given a three-match ban and fined about N16 million (N£60,000) by the Football Association of England for threatening referee Mark Clattenburg.
The Nigerian midfielder had admitted an FA charge following an incident in the match official’s changing room at the end of Chelsea’s game against Manchester United, on October 28, at Stamford Bridge.
In a personal hearing on Thursday, the FA’s Independent Regulatory Commission accepted that the player had genuinely believed the referee had racially abused him thus were lenient in dispensing justice.
“But for that factor the suspension would have been significantly longer,” the FA said in a statement.
The FA has investigated the allegation against Clattenburg and found that there was no case for the referee to answer.
Mikel only Wednesday signed a new 5-year deal that will see him remain with Chelsea till 2017.
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