Duan Xin, team leader of Liaoning Shenyang City, slapped the referee in the face after he was shown a red card for protesting the latter's decisions during Sunday's game against Nanjing City.
On Monday evening, Duan offered a public apology, saying he should have obeyed the referee's decisions unconditionally.
"As the culprit, I have brought Chinese football into disrepute. I did wrong," he said in a statement posted on the Shenyang club's social media account.
