Player who knocked out referee banned indefinitely

The incident occurred yesterday (January 9th) during the 23rd season of the Online Veteran Businessmen's Football Tournament, currently taking place in Ho Chi Minh City, in a match between Celadon An Phu and the Quang Ngai Businessmen (DNQN) team.

During this match, after referee Le Tuan Kiet blew the whistle for a foul following a collision between players from both teams, Nguyen Hong Quang of the DNQN team rushed over and started arguing with the referee.

Cầu thủ đấm gục trọng tài bị cấm thi đấu vô thời hạn - 1 — The incident where player Nguyen Hong Quang punched referee Le Tuan Kiet to the ground (Photo: DNOL).

After an exchange of words, Nguyen Hong Quang suddenly punched referee Le Tuan Kiet hard in the face, causing the referee to stagger and collapse on the field. Hong Quang's teammates then had to intervene and separate the player from referee Le Tuan Kiet.

Referee Le Tuan Kiet, after collapsing on the field for a moment, got up and issued a red card to Nguyen Hong Quang. However, referee Le Tuan Kiet was unable to continue officiating the match as the main referee and had to switch to the role of fourth official from the moment he was assaulted until the end of the match.

Cầu thủ đấm gục trọng tài bị cấm thi đấu vô thời hạn - 2 — Referee Le Tuan Kiet (Photo: HV).

Cầu thủ đấm gục trọng tài bị cấm thi đấu vô thời hạn - 3 — Announcement of disciplinary action from the tournament organizers.

Following Nguyen Hong Quang's actions, today (January 10th), the Organizing Committee of the tournament issued a notice banning player Nguyen Hong Quang from participating in all tournaments as well as activities of the Online Entrepreneurs group.

The DNQN team was fined 10 million VND by the tournament organizers as part of the compensation for damages to the referee.

On the part of the Ho Chi Minh City Football Federation (HFF), representatives of the HFF and the HFF Referee Committee stated that they will issue an additional penalty, banning player Nguyen Hong Quang indefinitely from playing in all tournaments officiated by referees belonging to the Ho Chi Minh City Football Federation.

Referee Le Tuan Kiet is a referee belonging to the Ho Chi Minh City Football Federation and has achieved VFF referee status.

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