Buriram United from Thailand and Zhejiang FC from China have been punished by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for brawling during an AFC Champions League match at the end of last month.
Buriram’s Azerbaijani forward Ramil Sheydayev received an eight-match suspension, while midfielder Leon James and defender Chitipat Tanklang each received six-match suspensions.
For Chinese rivals Zhejiang, midfielder Yao Junsheng was given an eight-match suspension, while strikers Gao Di and Leonardo de Souza, and two other club staff members, received six-match suspensions each.
The brawl occurred after Zhejiang defeated Buriram 3-2 in a Group H AFC Champions League match on 29 November 2023.
It began with an altercation between James and Yao, which escalated when members of both teams joined in. It took stadium security some time to separate the hotheads.
James and Yao were identified as the instigators of the brawl.
This is the second international-level brawl involving Thai football this year.
Previously, Thailand had a brawl with Indonesia during the Cambodian SEA Games Men’s Football final on 16 May 2023.
The incident resulted in seven members from both Indonesia and Thailand being banned for six matches.
