Official: Preston striker banned for nine games and fined £21,000 for racially abusing Hannibal

Sports     11:35am, 8 November 2025

The Football Association of England recently announced that Preston forward Osamajic will be suspended for nine games, fined, and required to attend educational courses for racially abusing a Burnley player in last season's Championship game.

The Football Association said that the independent regulatory committee has punished Preston forward Osamajic because he was found to have violated Article E3 of the Football Association Rules. During the Championship match on Saturday 15 February, the forward behaved in an inappropriate manner towards a Burnley player, using abusive and/or insulting words, thereby breaching FA Rule E3.1.

The FA also stated that there are further allegations that the incident constituted an "aggravated breach", that is, a situation defined in FA Rule E3.2, because the words contained - whether express or implied - a reference to skin color and/or race.

According to previous media reports, the player who was verbally insulted by Osamadzic was Burnley midfielder Hannibal.

Osmajic denied the accusations against him at the time, but the regulatory committee found the accusations true and imposed an immediate nine-game ban on him, a fine of £21,000, and mandatory education courses. The reasons for the Supervisory Board's decision will be published in writing in due course.