Chelsea loanee Miazga fined by Vitesse for grabbing opponent's groin

Vitesse defender Matt Miazga has been fined by the club for inappropriate behavior in which he grabbed the private parts of an opposition player.

The incident occurred on January 20 in a 1-1 draw between Vitesse and SC Heerenveen, with the U.S. national team defender’s low blow coming at the expense of Heerenveen right-back Denzel Dumfries.

Dumfries was also the victim of an elbow by Vitesse forward Tim Matavz. That elbow has drawn a four-game suspension for Matavz by the KNVB with the club adding fines for both him and Miazga.

Vitesse’s appeal of the suspension to Matavz has been denied by the KNVB.

The club explained the fines to both players, along with their decision to appeal the suspension, in a statement by technical director Marc van Hintum.

"First of all, we regret the commotion that has arisen,” van Hintum said. “We have fined both Tim and Matt directly after the events because we do not fit the behavior they showed within the Fair Play concept of the club.

“However, we found the punishment Tim received was not given in proportion. That does not mean that we approve the incident, on the contrary, as the imposed fine proves. The penalty, however, is by no means consistent with suspensions imposed after similar incidents.

“That was the main reason to appeal against the verdict; a straight-line penalty. Perhaps we could have largely prevented the commotion by also communicating this immediately after imposing the fines.”

While Matavz will be unavailable, Miazga, who scored for Vitesse this past matchday, is set to start for the club when they face off against ADO Den Haag in Thursday's Eredivisie action.

The on-loan Chelsea defender has appeared 20 times in league for Vitesse, with 17 starts, scoring two goals. He also started all six of the club’s Europa League contests, with Vitesse going out in the group stage of the competition.