Borussia Dortmund team-bus bomber given 14-year jail sentence

The defendant, who has been identified only as Sergej W. in line with German privacy rules, was convicted on 28 accounts of attempted murder by the Dortmund state court on Tuesday.

He was also ordered to pay 15,000 euros to defender Marc Bartra, who got injured in the attack, having needed an operation to remove debris from his hand.

A police officer was also injured when three explosions rocked the team's bus as it left a hotel in the western German city to travel for their Champions League home game against AS Monaco on th 11th of April of last year.

Tuesday's verdict ended an 11-month trial that featured testimony from players and then-coach Thomas Tuchel.

Prosecutors alleged that W. took out a loan to place a bet that Borussia Dortmund's shares would drop in value, then bombed the bus and tried to disguise the attack as Islamic terrorism.

Dortmund is the only German club whose shares are listed on the stock exchange.

The blasts shattered a window of the bus and hit Bartra with shrapnel, leaving the team without the Spanish defender for around a month.

The verdict fell short of prosecutors' call for a life sentence.

Defence lawyers had argued that W. should be convicted only of setting off an explosion and given a much lower sentence.

In January, the defendant testified that he carried out the attack but did not intend to kill or hurt anyone.

The 29-year-old, a German citizen who came to the country from Russia at 13, told the court that he was trying to fake an attack and designed the explosives in such a way "that no harm to people could be expected".

The suspect was arrested 10 days after the attack.