November 3, 2024; Harrison, New Jersey, USA; Columbus Crew midfielder Derek Jones (5) warms up ahead of the game against the New York Red Bulls in the first round of the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs at Red Bull Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark Smith-Imagn Image Former Major League Soccer players Yaw Yeboah and Derrick Jones have received lifetime bans for betting on MLS matches, including their own, the league announced Monday.
Yeboah, 28, most recently played for LAFC in 2025 and is a former teammate of Jones at Columbus Crew. Both were placed on administrative leave last October pending a league review of possible violations of MLS rules.
MLS hired law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP to investigate after the league received a suspicious betting alert through Integrity Partners. The law firm said Jones and Yeboah “engaged in extensive gambling on football, including on their own teams during the 2024 and 2025 seasons.”
In a match between Crewe and New York Red Bulls on October 19, 2024, both players bet on Jones receiving a yellow card in the 35th minute for a foul. According to the league, “We determined that it was likely that players shared confidential information with other bettors regarding their intentions to draw yellow cards.”
MLS added: “No evidence has been identified that such betting activity influenced the outcome of the match.”
MLS has been successful in eliminating yellow and red cards as part of betting opportunities in jurisdictions that allow betting. Of the 52 jurisdictions in the United States (including Washington DC and Puerto Rico), 41 allow gambling. Of those 41, 33 do not allow betting on the cards, and 15 of them changed their rules after the league contacted them, according to an MLS spokesperson.
The league also requires players to receive training on gambling policies and sign a contract certifying that they have completed the training.
“Major League Soccer has an unwavering commitment to game integrity,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in a statement. “The league will continue to enforce the policy, strengthen education efforts and advocate for the elimination of yellow card betting in all states to protect the integrity of competition for clubs, players and fans.”
Yeboah plays for Qingdao Hainu in China and scored on his debut last weekend. The midfielder won the MLS Cup and League Cup as part of the crew. He totaled five goals and nine assists from 2022-25 in 91 MLS games (46 starts) with LAFC and Columbus.
Jones, who is also a midfielder, played for Philadelphia, Nashville, Houston, Charlotte and Columbus from 2017-25, recording one goal and five assists in 131 games (67 starts).
Yeboah and Jones are not the first MLS players to receive lifetime bans. In 2021, MLS suspended Sporting Kansas City’s Felipe Hernández, terminating his contract three years later for betting on league matches.
–Field level media
