Major League Soccer has handed lifetime bans to midfielder Derrick Jones and Ghanaian winger Yaw Yeboah after both players were found guilty of violating the league’s strict betting rules.
According to MLS, investigations revealed that the two players placed multiple bets on soccer matches during the 2024 and 2025 seasons, including games involving their own teams while they were teammates at Columbus Crew.
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One of the most troubling incidents came during a match between Columbus Crew and the New York Red Bulls in October 2024. League officials say Jones and Yeboah reportedly bet on Jones receiving a yellow card, which he eventually did during the game.
MLS also believes the players may have shared inside information with other bettors about their intentions to draw yellow cards. However, the league says there is no evidence that the bets influenced the final results of any matches.
Jones, 29, had already been released by Columbus Crew last November, while Yeboah, 28, left Los Angeles FC earlier this year before joining Chinese Super League side Qingdao Hainiu.
Yeboah, who has represented Ghana at international level, previously spent time at Manchester City, though he never made a first-team appearance. He later played in France, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland before moving to the United States.
Jones, who was born in Ghana but represented the United States at youth level, has spent his entire professional career in Major League Soccer, featuring for clubs including Philadelphia Union, Nashville SC, Houston Dynamo, Charlotte FC and Columbus Crew.
