FIFA handed Maradona a two-month ban from all soccer activities on Sunday for his expletive-filled rants after his team qualified for the 2010 World Cup.He will miss Argentina's exhibition against the Czech Republic scheduled for Dec. 16, but he avoided sanctions that would have kept him from coaching at next year's World Cup in South Africa. He also was fined $24,250.
A disciplinary panel for world soccer's governing body heard the 49-year-old coach give evidence during a three-hour hearing on Sunday before excluding him from soccer until 15th Jan 2010FIFA said Maradona apologized to the world soccer family during his 40-minute appearance before the panel, which had the authority to ban him from World Cup matches in South Africa next year.
Diego Maradona, however, was judged by Article 57 relating to "offensive gestures or language.''
"The committee stressed that any breach of this decision or any repetition of a similar incident would mean that stronger sanctions would have to be imposed,'' FIFA said.
Maradona is likely to return for a March 3 exhibition against Germany in Munich.
