A Dutch court sentenced former Netherlands international footballer Quincy Promes to 18 months in jail Monday for stabbing his cousin at a family party.

The Spartak Moscow forward, 31, who pleaded not guilty, was not in court in Amsterdam for the sentencing as he currently lives in Russia. 

Promes stabbed his cousin in the leg at the end of a family birthday party in 2020 in a row over a stolen necklace, the court found.

Anyone convicted of the offence would normally get a sentence of at least a year but Promes got a heavier jail term because of his public profile, it said.

"The court took into account that the suspect is a professional football player and well-known Dutchman, and therefore has an exemplary function," the court said in a statement.

"The court also blames the suspect for not taking any responsibility for his act."

Prosecutors, who had demanded a two-year sentence, last year dropped a charge of attempted murder against Promes.

The investigation was triggered by a phone tap from a separate probe into a drug-smuggling case involving Promes.

Promes was charged in May with importing several hundred kilos of cocaine through the Belgian port of Antwerp in 2020.

Promes has been capped 50 times, scoring seven goals, and was part of the national team at the Euro 2020 championships, played in 2021 due to Covid, but has not worn the orange jersey since.

He joined Amsterdam's Ajax in 2019 from Sevilla in a 15 million-euro ($16.4 million) transfer, before going back to Spartak in 2021, where he was named Russia's footballer of the year in 2017 during a previous spell.

dk/pi