Thomas Ouwejan in Hot Water After League match
In a recent turn of events, Schalke 04's professional Thomas Ouwejan found himself in hot water. The 27-year-old Dutch full-back was suspended from training with the second division squad for a week, following an incident during a match against Fortuna Düsseldorf. In place of the suspension, Ouwejan will be training with Schalke's regional league team instead. Despite the suspension, he will miss out on playing Bundesliga 2 matches for the first team due to the nature of this penalty.
Ouwejan's suspension was driven by his conduct following an early substitution in the 3:5 (0:3) defeat. The replacement happened alongside Lino Tempelmann and Dominick Drexler in the 33rd minute, with Schalke trailing by three goals. This situation didn't sit well with Ouwejan, who refused to give the customary handshake to coach Karel Geraerts upon being substituted, sparking an altercation on the sidelines.
"Respect for the club, the fans, my team-mates, and the staff is very important to me. That's why I can't accept this behavior, and this sanction was unavoidable," Geraerts commented on Sunday after the incident. It was reported that Ouwejan had already apologized to Schalke's sporting management on Saturday, but this didn't assuage the anger of the team's sporting director André Hechelmann, who was still upset on Sunday.
"When a player behaves like that after a poor team performance, it shows that he has not understood the situation we are in," Hechelmann criticized. This suspension won't affect Ouwejan's practice with Schalke's regional league team during this period.
Although the enrichment data points out that Thomas Ouwejan is listed as a midfielder in the predicted lineup for NEC Nijmegen against FC Groningen on February 8, 2025,[2] it doesn't mention anything about his suspension or the incident that led to it.
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