West Brom's Aune Heggebo slapped with two-match ban after failed appeal against FA charge for Norwich handball goal
Last weekend’s controversial opening goal in Albion’s win at Norwich has landed the goalscorer in hot water.
Albion’s Aune Heggebo has been slapped with a two-match ban after an FA charge for his handball goal in last weekend’s victory at Norwich.
The frontman will serve a suspension for Sunday’s Championship home opener against Burnley and next Wednesday’s trip to Newcastle in the EFL Cup after Albion were unsuccessful with an appeal.
It is believed the suspension for deceiving officials to score a goal is the first of its kind in English football after a rule change two years ago, prior to the 2024/25 campaign.
Heggebo opened the scoring at Carrow Road in a 2-1 win for James Morrison’s side last Saturday as the ball cannoned in off his hand from a fierce Jimmy-Jay Morgan cross. Norwich players appealed immediately but referee Tim Robinson and his assistants allowed the goal.
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The incident sparked widespread debate about the manner of the goal and brought into the spotlight the potential for the introduction video assistant referee (VAR) to the Championship.
The Norwegian was charged by the Football Association on Tuesday. The breach was against rule E3.1, which alleged Heggebo did “successfully deceive a match official by handling the ball in a direct successful attempt to score a goal”.
Albion appealed, arguing the action of the ball striking Heggebo’s hand was accidental following a deflection off goalkeeper Vladan Kovacevic.
The Baggies argued the deflection changed the trajectory of the ball and left the striker with less than 0.1 of a second to react. It added there is no way the action could be considered deliberate.
But an appeal hearing with a regulatory committee on Thursday afternoon upheld the charge and Heggebo will miss his side’s next two games.
Albion have confirmed they will write to the governing body to ask about how players should be expected to react to such deflections and timeframes in the future.
The Baggies added in a statement they “remain steadfast in their support of Aune, whose character and integrity have been evident throughout his time at The Hawthorns.”
Last weekend’s opponents Norwich escaped a similar incident last season, after the introduction of the new law, as forward Jovon Makama converted what proved to be the winner with his hand against Southampton in December.
No FA charge was forthcoming to the Canaries.
Similar belated punishments have occurred against the Baggies in recent memory. Dwight Gayle was hit with a retrospective two-match for diving in 2019, with a charge of successful deception of a match official. Such retrospective bans against simulation, introduced in 2017, were extremely rare.
Brandon Thomas-Asante was given a retrospective three-match ban for a charge of violent conduct, before scoring an equaliser to force a replay, in the FA Cup against Chesterfield in January 2023.