Ivan Toney, striker of the English football club Brentford, has been prohibited from participating in any football-related activities for 8 months. In this regard, the governing body reported: “The ban officially came into force after admitting 232 breaches of the Football Association’s betting rules.”
Furthermore, the ban runs until January 16, 2024, and the Brantford striker was fined £50.000 after admitting supposed offences.
Missing the rest of the season:
With the ban starting immediately, it means he will miss Brentford’s final two games of the season, which are at Tottenham on Saturday and at home to Manchester City on the final day. Furthermore, he has scored 33% of Brentford’s Premier League goals this season.
In addition, he was fined and charged with 262 breaches of FA rule E8 between February 25, 2017 and January 23, 2021, by the Independent Regulatory Commission and will not be permitted to train with his Brentford teammates till September 17. However, the FA later cleared 30 of these breaches and Toney admitted the remaining 232. But he has the right to appeal the sentence. Commenting on Toney’s punishment, Brentford said in a statement: “We have been waiting the publication of the written reasons of the independent regulatory commission. We will review them before considering our next steps.”
Disappointed with the ban:
Toney later posted on social media that “he was disappointed with the ban but would not be commenting further until the written reasons are published.” However, Toney’s suspension only applies to English football, meaning that if he decides to move abroad in the summer, the FA will be forced to apply to FIFA if it decides to expand the ban across the globe.
Commenting on Toney’s ban, Sky Sports News Senoir Reporter Rob Dorsett, said: “It isn’t the FA that have imposed this sanction. There’s an important level of independence when it comes to serious disciplinary matters like this. The FA do the investigating and the charging but then they hand it over to an independent commission. That’s normally made up of people very senior within the game but also lawyers, former high court judges. They look at the facts and decide what sanction is suitable. They’ve decided that Ivan Toney, as a result of those 232 charges he’s admitted to and been found guilty of, should get an eight-month ban from all football. That means matches, training and potentially turning up to matches. He will not be allowed to be involved in football until January of next year. That’s a significant punishment. We ought to point out that Ivan Toney can appeal this but we don’t know if that’s going to happen. The statement from Brentford said they would consider their options and with such a huge asset unavailable to them for so long, they will want to reduce that if they possibly can I am sure. But the way these things work, they will have the written reasons from the commission which they’ve been given. They’ll examine those very carefully with their lawyers and will then decide what action to take next after consultation with Ivan Toney.”
Professional players are prohibited from betting on football:
Football wagering is prohibited around the world for any player, manager, coach, club staff, directors and licensed agents included in the game within the Premier League, EFL, National League, Women’s Super League, Women’s Championship and the Northern, Southern and Isthmian leagues. Professional players covered by the ban are forbidden from directly and indirectly wagering on any football match or competition held anywhere in the world. However, the ban also involves wagering on any other football-related matter, like player transfers, managerial appointments or team selection.
In addition, it is not permitted to pass on insider information to someone who uses it for wagering. More specifically, inside information is information that a player is aware of because of their position in the game and that is not publicly available, such as injury news or team selection. Moreover, a player is not permitted to use inside information to place a bet or tell someone else to do so in the player’s name.