ABU DHABI // The former coach of Al Ain Football Club has been handed a three-month suspended jail term for defamation.
He has also been told to pay the club Dh21,000 in compensation.
Cosmin Olaroiu, who is now with Al Ahli, defamed his former club by implying that they took money from him to buy shirts for players, the Misdemeanours Court ruled on Monday.
Olaroiu will be monitored for three years and if he commits any crime in that period, the court said it could impose three months as a sentence or additional one.
Olaroiu, who is from Romania, left Al Ain for Al Ahli in acrimonous circumstances last year.
Last November, he was hit with a Dh100,000 fine by the Football Association and banned from coaching for six months for "showing a lack of commitment" towards his contract with Al Ain and "violating it".
aalkhoori@thenational.ae
