Major League Soccer has issued lifetime bans to Derrick Jones and Yaw Yeboah for violating the league’s gambling policy.
MLS said that after an investigation, the league ‘concluded that the players engaged in extensive gambling on soccer, including on their own teams, during the 2024 and 2025 seasons.”
The league initially put the pair on administrative leave in October 2025, saying only that they had potentially violated unspecified league rules.
Jones and Yeboah were teammates on the Columbus Crew before the latter joined LAFC ahead of the 2025 season. Yeboah, 28, currently plays for Chinese side Qingdao Hainiu while Jones, 29, is without a club.
MLS said the league received suspicious betting alerts and retained the law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP to conduct an investigation.
The investigation found that both Jones and Yeboah bet on Jones to receive a yellow card in a match between the Columbus Crew and New York Red Bulls on October 19, 2024. The midfielder did earn a yellow card during the game.
The league said the players ‘likely shared confidential information with other bettors about their intent to draw yellow cards.’
Jones’s yellow card can be seen HERE.
MLS said there was “no evidence that was identified that suggested any of these betting activities affected the outcome of a match.”
“Major League Soccer remains steadfast in its commitment to match integrity,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said in a statement.
“The league will continue to enforce its policies, enhance education efforts, and advocate for the elimination of yellow card wagering in all states to protect the integrity of our competition for clubs, players and fans.”
After the suspensions were announced, the Crew released a statement saying that the club fully cooperated with the league’s investigation.
“The Columbus Crew are proud of the reputation we’ve established in MLS and global soccer that’s rooted in respect and integrity throughout our organization,’ the team said. ‘We fully condemn all actions and notions that aren’t aligned with these critical values for our club and any individual’s activity contradicting the principles of fair competition that are pivotal to our team, league and sport.
“The Crew – who strictly adhere to all MLS policies on educating and enforcing sports gambling regulations with team personnel – fully cooperated with the league since first learning about the inquiry regarding the players in question. Given the nature of the investigation, the club defers all comment on its results and discipline to the league.”
