Paulo Fonseca, the head coach of French soccer team Olympique Lyonnais, has been given a nine-month suspension after confronting a referee – a sanction the club described as “severe” and “unprecedented.

Lyon coach Paulo Fonseca has been banned from the touchline at games for nine months for aggressively confronting the referee at a French league game.

The Lyon manager's lengthy suspension comes with relations between French club officials and referees strained to breaking point