Aladashvili handed six-month ban
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Article summary
FC Dinamo Tbilisi's Georgia Under-21 player Kakhaber Aladashvili has been banned for six months.
Article body
UEFA ban
European football's governing body decided to impose the sanction on the Georgian Under-21 international after he spat at referee Mikko Vuorela during a 6-0 defeat by Ukraine on 12 October. Aladashvili will be ineligible for any club or international game in Europe until 11 May 2005.
Confirmation received
The initial UEFA ruling was made at the start of the month but the club had until 18 November to appeal - which they did not do - and the player was actually training in preparation for tonight's UEFA Cup match against Sporting Clube de Portugal when he received confirmation of the ban.
Misses qualifiers
The 21-year-old will miss the rest of Dinamo's UEFA Cup campaign - they sit bottom of Group D with two games to play - and virtually all their remaining Georgian Premier League fixtures this season. The next U21 tie he can play in is Georgia's Group 2 qualifier in Albania on 3 June, meaning he will miss home matches against Greece and Turkey in March. UEFA has requested that FIFA extend the ban worldwide.