Portuguese Ricardo Ferreira (1986), an amateur player of the Portugal Futebol Clube of the Swiss Fourth Division, was suspended for 50 years, in 2014, for having hit a referee at the end of a match.
According to a report in the Swiss newspaper "Blick" in November 2014, Ferreira lost his temper at the end of the match, went to the referee and hit him in the face, causing the referee to faint. The footballer did not stop there, because he also threw water at him and continued with the insults until he was stopped by his teammates. The worst of the case (and the main reason for the harsh sanction), is that Ferreira already had a history of being aggressive with the referees. In 2009 he was punished for a year, because he also hit a referee, while in 2014 he had already been sanctioned with a 45-game suspension, for constant attacks on rivals and referees. The situation escalated so much that at that time, the same newspaper "Blick" reported that the lawyer of the Swiss Soccer Federation, Robert Breiter, alleged that "we do not need such a player on the playing fields." It was for this reason that the Federation decided in the first instance that the punishment was for an "indeterminate time", but at the insistence of Ferreira himself to know the total time of his punishment, the sanction was imposed for 50 years, which will end on June 5, 2064, when the man will be 78 years old, since in 2014 he was 28. "I am known among the referees and in the Federation, it is true. I could expect a sanction of a year or two. But 50? Soccer is my life", said Ferreira at the time, who undoubtedly set a negative precedent in the history of world football.
Source: Mediotiempo
