Major League Soccer has given lifetime bans to midfielder Derrick Jones and winger Yaw Yeboah for betting offences.

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

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

A statement from MLS said that the players were found to have "engaged in extensive gambling on soccer, including on their own teams" during the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

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

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

"MLS also determined that the players likely shared confidential information with other bettors about their intent to draw yellow cards," added the statement from the league.

"No evidence was identified that suggested any of these betting activities affected the outcome 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 played for Spanish side Numancia and Polish team Wisła Krakow before spells at Columbus Crew and LAFC.

Ghana-born Jones has spent his entire career in the United States having 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. (BBC)

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