Leeds United goalkeeper Kiko Casilla has been handed an eight-game ban by The Football Association after being charged with racially abusing Charlton Athletic's Jonathan Leko.
The Spanish goalkeeper has also been fined £60,000 after being found guilty of breaching FA Rule E3 and must attend an educational course.
The incident occurred during Charlton's 1-0 win over Leeds back in September when Leko accused of racially abusing him and reported the incident to referee John Brooks.
Casilla - who has always denied making the comments - was charged in November and now faces a lengthy ban.
An FA statement read: "Kiko Casilla has been suspended for eight matches with immediate effect, fined £60,000 and must attend face-to-face education after a breach of FA Rule E3(2) was found proven by an independent Regulatory Commission.
"The Leeds United Goalkeeper denied using abusive and/or insulting words, which were contrary to FA Rule E3(1) and constituted an "Aggravated Breach", which is defined in FA Rule E3(2), as they made reference to race and/or colour and/or ethnic origin, towards a Charlton Athletic player during an EFL Championship fixture on Saturday 28 September 2019.
"The independent Regulatory Commission's written reasons will be published on the week commencing Monday 2 March 2020."
Leeds released a statement recognising the ban while also questioning the Commission's reasoning behind their decision.
"We would like to make it clear that we do not tolerate any form of discrimination within our football club and we are a leader in the fight against discrimination within our wider community," it read.
"However, it is important to recognise that Kiko has always denied making any racist comment.
"The FA panel have based their decision on the balance of probability rather than proving Kiko to be guilty beyond reasonable doubt, which we have always believed is the more appropriate burden of proof."
