Since joining the club in January, Paulo Fonseca has only managed five Lyon matches—source: Google Images.

Fonseca, 52, was handed his marching orders and pushed his face into official Benoit Millot during Lyon’s 2-1 home victory over Brest on 2 March.

In a statement on Wednesday, the French Professional Football League announced that the Portuguese coach would be prevented from entering the bench, the officials’ dressing rooms, and conducting any official duties before, during, and after matches until 30 November. The ban also prevents him from accessing the team dressing room, pitch, tunnel and corridors to those areas until 15 September.

Lyon acknowledged “the extreme severity of the unprecedented sanction” and said they were shocked by the speed with which it was handed down. Seven-time French champions, sixth-placed in Ligue 1, added that they were dismayed Fonseca was “not only judged on his actions, an emotional response, without any apparent intent of physically assaulting the referee” and were “considering all avenues of appeal”.

Lyon owner John Textor described the ban as “too severe, ” saying the club would stand behind Fonseca. “I am with you today and always,” Textor wrote on Instagram. “You made a mistake, your apology was sincere, and your sentence is too severe. You are the right man for OL and we shall manage.” Fonseca, who apologised after the incident, only took over the club on 31 January after resigning from AC Milan last month. His team face FCSB in the Europa League on Thursday (17:45 GMT). He was sent off following a probe on a potential penalty for Brest – one not awarded – for his “attitude d’intimidation”, Millot adds.

Fonseca had to be restrained from the referee by his players from Lyon- Source: Google Images.

“He was threatening me with an aggressive bearing, so I sent him away immediately. It still went out of control,” Millot said in an interview with French sports newspaper L’Equipe on Monday.

“He had an even more aggressive bearing, attempting to make a hit, actually. A headbutt. I never even had time to gesture the final decision, which was to give no penalty.”. “There was a collision of the nose, specifically.” France’s referees’ union last week said that their officials would exercise the right to withdraw if their safety, and that of family, comes into issue after the case in which one match official was subject to an “outpouring of hate” following Marseille chief Pablo Longoria’s remarks. Local media reported that Longoria had complained about the appointment of referee Jeremy Stinat for their league game against Auxerre on 22 February, which Marseille lost 3-0.

Longoria blamed the loss on “true corruption” and expressed his fury over the red card issued to defender Derek Cornelius, for which the president was subsequently handed a 15-match ban.