Gomes - harrassed officials. (Allsport)

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Portugal's Abel Xavier claimed he was "deeply shocked" after being handed a nine-month ban from all UEFA competitions for his part in the fracas at the end of last week's 2-1 defeat in the semi-finals of Euro 2000.

The Everton defender was adjudged to have handled Sylvain Wiltord's shot four minutes before the end of the match against France in Brussels - a decision which sparked furious scenes in the Portuguese camp.

It took several minutes for order to be restored, allowing Zinedine Zidane to score the winner from the resulting penalty.

"I'm deeply shocked and disappointed. I didn't expect a punishment of this nature," Xavier told Lisbon radio TSF.

"I reiterate that I did nothing wrong. The footage is available and people can watch it.

"This does great damage to my career, because at the moment, there were clubs which were interested in me, clubs which are involved in European competitions."

Striker Nuno Gomes was also banned for eight months, midfielder Paulo Bento for six months and the Portuguese federation received a 175,000 Swiss franc (£70,300) fine from Europe's governing body.

Portugal have until midnight on July 5 to appeal against the ruling, which also applies to both the Champions' League and the UEFA Cup.

FIFA, the game's world governing body, could also adopt the suspensions, ruling the players out of Portugal's opening qualifying matches for the 2002 World Cup.

According to UEFA's statement Austrian referee Gunter Benko and his assistant Igor Sranka, who spotted the handball, suffered bruising and scratching after being jostled by a number of players.

The statement also added that the fourth official, who also intervened trying to protect his colleagues, was harassed, pushed in the back and had his shirt pulled. A Portuguese player also spat at Sranka.

Gomes gave the referee a violent push in the chest - it was then that Benko showed the Portugal striker the red card and Xavier grabbed him by the arm. Bento tried to take the red card from the referee.

Gomes then took his shirt off and threw it in the direction of Sranka.

UEFA have already confirmed that the referee was correct to award the penalty which brought about the chaotic scenes, claiming: "It was an obvious handball."

Ironically it had been Xavier who had almost won the match for Portugal with a superb header pushed away by French keeper Fabien Barthez seconds before the end of full-time.

Gomes had earlier put Portugal ahead with a stunning strike on 19 minutes, before Thierry Henry equalized for France shortly after the break.