Hertha Berlin’s Georgian defender Levan Kobiashvili was yesterday given a seven-and-a-half-month suspension for striking a referee, the longest suspension in the history of German football.

The 34-year-old, who has made 336 Bundesliga appearances, assaulted referee Wolfgang Stark during Hertha’s 2-2 draw with Fortuna Duesseldorf in a relegation play-off match on May 15, which condemned Hertha to a 4-3 aggregate defeat.

“I will accept this judgement in order to continue to be able to play football,” he said.

“My family have suffered a lot recently. I’m therefore happy that the procedure is over.”

The disciplinary committee of the German Football Federation (DFB) had called for a year-long ban but the organisation’s sports tribunal instead decided to suspend him until December 31, 2012 – seven-and-a-half months after the offence occurred.

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