The president of Montpellier has been punished for a homophobic remark made towards Auxerre midfielder Benoit Pedretti.

Louis Nicollin has been banned from sitting in his team's dug-out and from entering the dressing room for two months, with a further two-month ban suspended, by the French Football Federation's ethics commission after he used a derogatory term to describe Pedretti in the aftermath of the sides' Ligue 1 clash on October 31.

Nicollin made the comment after Pedretti was involved in the sending-off of Montpellier's Tino Costa, and subsequently issued an apology to the Auxerre man.