João Pinto receives four-month ban

Portugal striker João Pinto was suspended from all matches for four months today by FIFA's disciplinary committee for striking the referee after being sent off against the Korean Republic during the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Seeing red
João Pinto was provisionally banned for punching Argentinian referee Angel Sanchez in the stomach after being shown a red card for a challenge on Sung Park-ji during Portugal's 1-0 defeat against the co-hosts on 14 June for.

Extra suspended sentence
FIFA have now suspended João Pinto until 17 October, with a further 'suspended sentence' of two months to be applied should he be involved in other disciplinary incidents within a year. Portugal, as co-hosts of EUR0 2004™, do not have to qualify for the finals however if Sporting get past the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, he will miss their opening first group stage game.

'Serious violation'
He has also been fined €34,400 and made to pay €10,200 costs. A FIFA statement read: "The act of hitting a referee is considered to be a serious violation of the disciplinary code."