BEIJING, June 6 -- Chinese Super League (CSL) club Shanghai Shenhua said Tuesday that former Colombia striker Hamilton Ricard had joined the squad as the side prepared for the East Asian Champions Cup, which starts in Ji'nan, Shandong Province, tomorrow.

    Ricard most recently helped unfashionable Danubio win the Uruguayan championship, making a typical contribution to the title-winning match by scoring a goal before being dismissed.

    The 33-year-old former Middlesbrough forward is famously fiery and was banned for a year, reduced on appeal, for insulting a referee and making obscene gestures at the crowd while playing for Emelec in Ecuador in 2004.

    Shenhua, currently struggling in seventh place in the CSL despite a big-money merger with city rival Shanghai United in the close season, is coached by Uruguayan Osvaldo Gimenez.

    Ricard, who has also had spells at Bulgaria's CSKA Sofia and Numancia of Spain, has been under a cloud since a vehicle he was driving killed a pedestrian in 2002.

    In January, a Colombian court sentenced him to three years in prison over the incident although his lawyers said they would appeal.

    The CSL is determined to clean up its image after being plagued by on-pitch violence and corruption in recent years.

    Last week, Shaanxi Baorong coach Cheng Yaodong was banned from the touchline for the rest of the season and fined 10,000 yuan (1,308 U.S. dollars) for pushing a referee during a match.

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily)