Schalke forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has had his ban for a red card against Hannover reduced from six games to four.
The Federal Court of the German Football Asscociation (DFB]) confirmed the punishment on Wednesday, which carries a further suspended two-match ban until Jan. 30, 2016.
Huntelaar, 31, was sent off in the 85th minute of Schalke's 1-0 win over Hannover on Saturday after a challenge on Manuel Schmiedebach.
Schalke said that the red card was deserved but that "contrary to the opinion of the supervisory board we believe that it was not violent conduct."
Huntelaar said that he deserved the red card and added that the foul was not premeditated and rather that he had mistimed his challenge.
He also spoke about an offensive gesture he made and which earned him a 15,000 euros fine, and said that "this was on no account directed at the referee."
The Federal Court of the German Football Asscociation did not follow the advice of the DFB supervisory committee to implement a six-match ban, and reduced Huntelaar's ban to four games, suspending the other two games on parole until January 2016.
"Fundamentally, there is no parole for match bans," Hans E. Lorenz, the chairman of the Federal Court, was quoted on the DFB website. "And it will stay like this in the future. But in cases like this, with long bans looming, we have to look to the option of suspending parts of the ban if the player has no previous offences."
Schalke have the chance to appeal the verdict within 24 hours. Should they accept the suspension, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar will return in the prestigious Revierderby at bottom club Borussia Dortmund in late February.