Soccer-Klopp fined by FA for referee comments after West Ham draw

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp was fined 45,000 pounds ($58,774) by the Football Association (FA) on Thursday for comments he made about the referee after his side's 1-1 draw with West Ham United in the Premier League on Feb. 4. The FA charged Klopp earlier this month after his comments were ruled to have "questioned the integrity of the referee and/or implied bias" and the coach accepted the charge.

The German had said that referee Kevin Friend's performance was affected by the decision to allow Sadio Mane's opening goal, which should have been ruled out for offside. "Juergen Klopp has been fined 45,000 pounds after accepting an FA charge for comments made following Liverpool's league game against West Ham United on 4 February 2019," the FA said in a statement.

"His comments made during a post-match interview breached FA Rule E3(1), as they questioned the integrity of the match referee and/or implied bias." ($1 = 0.7656 pounds) (Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru Editing by Christian Radnedge)