Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli will not appeal against his one-match ban imposed for posting racist and anti-semitic comments on social media.
The Italy international was given the suspension, a £25,000 fine and will have to attend an education course following the decision of an independent disciplinary panel.
The panel issued the punishment on Thursday after the 24-year-old admitted to an aggravated breach of Football Association Rule E3, relating to references of ethnic origin, colour, race, nationality or religion or belief, after his posting of an image of computer game character Super Mario on Instagram which included the words "jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a Jew".
It means he will miss Sunday's visit of Arsenal, although there were doubts over his fitness anyway as he did not travel to Bournemouth for the Reds' 3-1 Capital One Cup victory on Wednesday because he was having treatment on a groin injury.
Having submitted detailed mitigation, Balotelli apologised again after the verdict.
"Following the recent events related to my 'Super Mario' post, the FA decision has made clear that it was wrong," he wrote on Twitter.
"I am sorry that my team-mates and supporters of Liverpool FC have to be penalised for something I did and now come to regret.
"It is my intention to comply with the decision of the FA and make sure it never happens again."
He could, however, face further internal sanctions as the club said they had not ruled out action against him.
"The club acknowledges the decision reached by the independent panel and due consideration will be given to the written judgement once we receive it from the FA," said a Liverpool spokesman.
"Any further action taken by ourselves in relation to this matter is between the club and player."
The day after his posting - which he quickly deleted - Balotelli apologised, writing on Twitter: "I apologize if I've offended anyone. The post was meant to be anti-racist with humour. I now understand that out of context (it) may have the opposite effect."
In a statement the FA said: "Following an independent regulatory commission hearing today Mario Balotelli has been fined £25,000, suspended for one match with immediate effect, subject to any appeal, and warned as to his future conduct after he admitted breaching FA rules in relation to social media.
"The charge was that an image the Liverpool player posted on social media was abusive and/or insulting and/or improper, contrary to FA rule E3(1).
"Furthermore, the posting was considered to be an "aggravated breach" as defined in FA rule E3(2) in that it included a reference to ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race and/or nationality and/or religion or belief.
"Mr Balotelli has also been ordered to attend an education programme."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article