Hazard ban stands at three matches

Eden Hazard’s ban for kicking a ball boy at Swansea will remain at three games, the Football Association has confirmed.

The Chelsea midfielder was shown a red card for the incident, prompting the FA to look into the possibility of increasing the punishment.

Earlier in the week the Blues wrote to the FA to contest any possible increase in the ban, and the governing body decided not to punish the Belgium international further.

A statement on the FA’s website read: “Following a hearing earlier today (Thursday), an independent regulatory commission was of the opinion the existing three-match sanction for this offence was sufficient.”

Hazard has already served two of the three games after missing the FA Cup draw at Brentford and Wednesday night’s draw at Reading, and he will be available for the home game against Wigan on February 9 after sitting out Saturday’s trip to Newcastle.

The fracas at Swansea caused a lot of controversy, prompting a reaction from the FA to tell clubs to ensure ball boys act responsibly and fairly.

The statement continued: “The FA will be reminding all clubs of their responsibilities in ensuring ball boys and other personnel around the pitch act in an appropriate manner at all times and the FA will be liaising with competitions accordingly.”