Dresden's Sapina suspended for two matches

Second-division soccer club Dynamo Dresden will have to do without Vinko Sapina for two games. The 30-year-old midfielder was given the minimum penalty for reckless play by the German Football Association (DFB) sports court after being sent off in the home match against Hannover 96 (2:2), the club announced. Dynamo accepted the verdict.

Sapina had unintentionally hit Hannover's Enzo Leopold's calf in the 54th minute, but with an open sole. "The DFB Control Committee assumes in the summary procedure that player Sapina had the intention to play the ball," it says in the reasons for the ruling, "however, player Sapina endangered his opponent's health considerably through his style of play and thus acted recklessly within the meaning of §8 No. 1. b) of the DFB's Legal and Procedural Regulations."

Since Leopold was not injured, there was no intent and the Ulm-born player has not had to appear before the sports court in recent years, the judges handed down the minimum suspension. Sapina will miss Dynamo's league games at Darmstadt and against Karlsruher SC.