Houston Dynamo midfielder Juan David Cabezas will be suspended for the club’s season-opening match against Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday night, the club announced today.
Cabezas received two yellow cards for professional fouls in his final game with Independiente Medellin in the Colombian Categoría Primera A on December 3, 2016 against Santa Fe. According to regulations from FIFA, the governing body of soccer internationally, a player must serve a one-match suspension after receiving two yellow cards in a game, even if he or she moves to a new club or a new league.
The Dynamo appealed the suspension, but it was upheld according to Article 12, Number 1 of the Regulation on the Status and Transfer of Players, which reads:
“Any disciplinary sanction of up to four matches or up to three months that has been imposed on a player by the former association but not yet (entirely) served by the time of the transfer shall be enforced by the new association at which the player has been registered in order for the sanction to be served at domestic level.