Germany's Federation has announced that Jermaine Jones will have to serve an eight week suspension for a yellow card offense during Schalke 04's 3-1 loss to Borussia Moenchengladbach on December 21st last year. Jones stepped on Marco Reus's foot, with the German Federation judging the foul intentional. Jones later apologized for the incident, with Reus not needing to be substituted. Though the game was in the DFB Pokal tournament, the ban applies to the Bundesliga as well. Schalke are currently in Doha training during the Bundesliga's winter break.
"I don't want to play it down as it was violent conduct and it deserved a certain level of punishment," Schalke 04 general manager Horst Heldt told the club's English-language website. "But there have been similar cases of violent conduct that have drawn a suspension in the competition they happened in."
