Bulgarian football side Litex Lovech were expelled Wednesday from the country's top league after players walked off the pitch during a match last weekend in protest against the refereeing, the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) said.
Ten-man Litex were leading Levski Sofia 1-0 at the end of the first half of their game in the championship's 20th round, when referee Georgy Yordanov sent off a second Litex player and gave Levski a penalty.
The decision prompted an angry response from Litex's sporting manager Stoycho Stoilov and president Trifon Popov, who ordered the players to leave the pitch.
Popov was handed a 15,000-leva (7,600-euro, $8,300) fine and the club must also pay another 20,000 leva, but the players themselves were not sanctioned.
"This was the only possible decision in line with the disciplinary rules," the BFU's disciplinary committee chair Yuriy Kuchev told journalists.
Before the expulsion, which Litex can appeal within a week, the four-times Bulgarian champions were fourth in the table with 33 points from 19 games.