MLS Bans Two Players for Life Over Gambling Violations

Major League Soccer announced on Monday that it has issued lifetime bans to midfielder Derrick Jones and winger Yaw Yeboah for violating the league's gambling policy through extensive betting on matches, including wagers on their own teams during the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

The investigation, prompted by suspicious betting alerts from the league's integrity partners, revealed that both players placed bets on soccer games while active in MLS. Jones, 29, who was born in Ghana and has represented the United States at the under-20 and under-23 levels, played 23 games for the Columbus Crew across 2024 and 2025 before being released by the club in November. Yeboah, 28, a Ghana international with four caps, spent three seasons with the Crew starting in 2022 before transferring to Los Angeles FC in January 2025. His contract with LAFC was mutually terminated in January, after which he joined Qingdao Hainiu in China's Super League.

A key incident involved the pair wagering on Jones receiving a yellow card during Columbus Crew's 3-2 victory over the New York Red Bulls on October 19, 2024, an outcome that occurred as predicted. Investigators determined that Jones and Yeboah likely shared...