Paulo Fonseca Slapped With A 9 Month Ban After Altercation With Referee

Following a confrontation with referee Benoit Millot during Lyon’s 2-1 victory over Brest on March 2, Lyon manager Paulo Fonseca has been suspended from matchday roles until November 30.

The Portuguese coach will not be allowed to use the bench, the officials’ locker rooms, or any match-related activity prior to, during, or following games, the French Professional Football League (LFP) said on Wednesday.

Furthermore, until September 15th, he is not permitted to enter the tunnel, the team dressing room, the pitch, or the corridors that lead to those facilities.

“I chose to send him out straight away when he leaped at me with a intimidating attitude. It kept getting out of hand,” Millot said Monday in an interview with the French sports publication L’Equipe.

“He had an even more intense attitude, attempting to deliver a blow, in fact. A headbutt. I didn’t even have time to announce the final decision, which turned out to be not awarding a penalty.

“There seemed to be a slight contact of the nose, to be precise.”

Lyon stated that they were worried about the pace at which the sentence was applied and acknowledged “the extreme severity of the unprecedented sanction”.

Currently ranked sixth in Ligue 1, the seven-time French champions expressed their disappointment that Fonseca was “not judged on his actions alone, an emotional reaction, without any clear intention of physically attacking the referee” and stated that they were “studying all possible avenues of appeal.”

However, it is not applicable to European competitions as of yet. Fonseca will therefore be watching tonight’s UEFA Europa League match against FCSB from the sidelines.

Fonseca, who expressed regret following the event, left AC Milan the month before and took over as manager of the team on January 31. 

However, there had been doubts regarding Fonseca’s future with Les Gones because he had been out of action for nearly all of 2025. Through social media, Textor has affirmed the Portuguese manager’s future with the club. 

“I stand with you today, and always. You made a mistake… Your apology was sincere… and your punishment is clearly too severe. You are the right man for OL and we shall persevere. Allez l’OL,” he said on Instagram.