Troubled Brazilian club Gremio were banned from staging home games for the third time in less than a month on Friday following crowd trouble during a championship match.
Bottom of the table and almost certain to be relegated, the former South American champions were given a two-match ban by a disciplinary tribunal after their supporters hurled plastic water bottles and stones onto the pitch during their 3-2 defeat against Palmeiras last month.
The supporters were furious after their side had two players sent off while Palmeiras scored two controversial goals.
That game had already been moved from Gremio's Olimpico stadium in Porto Alegre to the southern town of Pelotas because of similar disturbances at a previous match.
The tribunal also banned club vice-president Helio Dourado for 30 days after he ran onto the pitch to protest to the referee.
The club will first have to serve an earlier two-match home ban imposed on Monday after one of their ball boys kicked a ball at rival goalkeeper Clemer of Internacional during a derby match in October. Supporters also threw objects onto the field during that game.
Gremio, where Brazil's 2002 World Cup winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari made his name during the mid-1990s, will now not play any more matches at home this year.
© 2024 Rediff.com -