Newcastle United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey has been handed a five-match ban and £100,000 fine after an FA hearing found him guilty of a FA misconduct charge.
The 24-year-old originally opted to appeal the decision after being charged with directing racially abusive language towards Wolves' Roman Saiss on September 17th.
FA Statement
The FA released a statement earlier this afternoon stating: "Jonjo Shelvey has been given a five-match suspension and £100,000 fine after an FA misconduct charge against him was found proven."
The statement continued: "The player was charged with using abusive and/or insulting words towards an opponent in the 87th minute of the game against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday 17 September 2016."
Newcastle have another chance to appeal the decision once the written confirmation has arrived at the club. The club have seven days to fight the ban.
The incident
The ban stems from an incident against Wolverhampton Wanderers at St. James' Park earlier this season, in which Shelvey is accused of using racially aggrevated language against Roman Saiss shortly after Vurnon Anita was shown a red card.
The referee missed the incident in real time but Saiss' teammates made the officials aware after the full time whistle. The Magpies' were confident of overturning the ban due to the lack of video evidence in the case.
For this reason, Newcastle are likely to lodge yet another appeal to the FA. Shelvey continues to maintain his innocence over the matter.
Rafa Benitez will be hoping his most creative player is available over the next month, as his side face tough fixtures and face losing key players due to the African Cup of Nations.
Previous racism suspensions
Shelvey becomes the newest player in England to be hit with a retrospective ban for racial abuse.
Chelsea's John Terry was handed a four-match ban and a fine of £220,000 for racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand, while one year earlier Luis Suarez picked up an eight-match suspension for abusing Patrice Evra.