A-League players will be "shown a yellow card if they urge referees to video review a decision once the technology comes into play" from Friday night’s Melbourne City-Adelaide match. Australia’s elite competition will become the first top-tier league in the world to use the technology and Adelaide defender Michael Marrone said that "players have been warned about how they should react to it." Marrone: "We’re not allowed to ask for the [video] decision, we’re not allowed to make the signal" (AAP, 4/3).
Former Guatemalan FA President Brayan Jimenez has been "banned from the sport for life" for offenses which included "bribery and corruption," FIFA's ethics committee announced. Jimenez, also a former member of a FIFA committee for fair play and social responsibility, was among several dozen officials who were indicted in the U.S. in '15. He pleaded guilty to "racketeering and corruption charges before a U.S. judge in July and is due to be sentenced on April 28" (REUTERS, 4/3).
The FA of Malaysia "terminated the services of 20 of its staff," effective Monday. FAM Secretary General Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin said in a statement that the "decision to trim the workforce was to reduce the operating cost of FAM and ensure the administration of the association meet its intended direction" (NEW STRAITS TIMES, 4/3).
The German FA (DFB) is reportedly "set to investigate Schalke mascot Erwin after he showed referee Felix Zwayer a red card in the derby draw with Borussia Dortmund." Zwayer "waved away Schalke's claims of handball in the penalty area against Dortmund defender Marc Bartra in the dying seconds." He then "dropped his red card and Erwin returned it to him on the final whistle -- but not before having brandished it as if sending him off" (ESPN.com, 4/3).
