Portuguese player banned for four years

Striker Marco Gonçalves, who plays for infamous Portuguese amateur club Canelas, was on Tuesday banned for over four years for kneeing a referee in the face. "Marco Gonçalves has been given a four years suspension for assaulting a referee, two months for insults and threats and three months for assaulting an opposition player," a spokesman for the Porto regional league told AFP.
Gonçalves, 34, attacked the referee after being shown a red card during last month's game against Rio Tinto. The referee fell to the ground with a broken nose with images of the assault going viral on social media. The club from the suburbs of Porto, have been branded "thugs" and "butchers" but have risen to the top of their amateur league after a string of default wins because opponents are too afraid to play them.