MLS Bans Yeboah

9 March 2026


Major League Soccer has offered lifetime bans to midfielder Derrick Jones and winger Yaw Yeboah for wagering offenses.


Yeboah, 28, signed for Chinese Super League side Qingdao Hainiu last month after his with Los Angeles FC was ended in January.


Jones, 29, was released from his contract by Columbus Crew last November.


A statement from MLS said that the players were discovered to have "engaged in substantial gambling on soccer, consisting of on their own teams" during the 2024 and 2025 seasons.


MLS kept in mind that on one occasion both players positioned bets on Jones receiving a yellow card - which then happened - in a match for Columbus Crew versus New York Red Bulls on 19 October 2024.


Jones and Yeboah were team-mates at Columbus Crew in the 2024 season.


"MLS likewise identified that the gamers likely shared secret information with other bettors about their intent to draw yellow cards," included the statement from the league.


"No evidence was identified that suggested any of these wagering activities affected the result of a match."


Yeboah, who has been capped by Ghana, was at Manchester City from 2014 to 2018 but did not make a first-team appearance and had loan spells at Lille, Twente and Oviedo.


He then bet Spanish side Numancia and Polish group Wisła Krakow before spells at Columbus Crew and LAFC.


Ghana-born Jones has invested his entire career in the United States having actually played for Philadelphia Union, Nashville SC, Houston Dynamo, Charlotte FC and Columbus Crew.


Jones was capped by the USA at under-20 and under-23 level.


Related topics


Big League Soccer


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Published


16 August 2025