Brisbane Roar's Avraam Papadopoulos has been given a seven-match ban by the A-League judiciary for spitting on Sydney FC's Matt Simon two weeks ago.
The defender's ban includes the one match he has already served, when he sat out the Roar's 2-0 win over Western Sydney.
In a statement, the club said it would look at a possible appeal based on the amount of time it took for the verdict to come down.
The Roar's match against Sydney FC was on Nov. 25.
Before the verdict on Friday, Brisbane coach John Aloisi criticised the length of time that elapsed between the incident and the decision.
"It's very frustrating for Avraam. He's disappointed, he's embarrassed in what he ended up doing and he just wants to move on from it," Aloisi said.
The A-League's judiciary was supposed to hand down their verdict after the former Greece international's hearing last Friday but chose to reserve their determination.
The delay was reportedly because the chairman of the three-person committee is a volunteer and "other commitments" have got in the way of setting the length of the suspension.
The Roar's defensive ranks have been further stretched in Papadopoulos' absence with Jade North set to miss Saturday's clash with Wellington due to a groin injury, while Luke DeVere is already sidelined with a long-term knee injury.