Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali has been handed a two-month suspended ban by the Football Association (FA) for breaching betting rules. The 23-year-old Italian joined the Magpies from AC Milan in the summer of 2023 for a fee of £55 million and was initially banned from competitive football until August 2024 for placing bets on matches in Italy. However, he has now been charged with a further 50 breaches of the FA’s Rule E8, which prohibits players from betting on football matches. These additional breaches occurred between August 12 and October 12, 2023, after Tonali had joined Newcastle.
The two-month ban imposed on Tonali will be suspended until the end of the 2024/25 season, meaning he will be banned from all football-related activity for that period if he commits any further offenses. However, he will be able to return to action from August 27 if he avoids any further sanctions. In addition to the ban, Tonali has also been fined £20,000 and warned by the FA regarding his future conduct.
In a statement released by Newcastle United, the club acknowledged the level of assistance provided by Tonali in self-referring and cooperating fully with the subsequent investigation. The statement also highlighted that Tonali made full admissions regarding his betting activity and did so in the absence of any other evidence to support misconduct proceedings. Newcastle also confirmed that Tonali is continuing to follow a therapeutic plan and educational program with the club’s full support and will continue to train with his teammates. The FA’s written reasons for the ban reveal that Tonali admitted to placing between 40 and 50 bets on football matches between August and October last year, including four bets on Newcastle to win. Tonali, who acknowledged that betting on football is illegal, played in four of the five matches he bet on and was an unused substitute in the other. He stated that he could not recall the exact amount he stake on each bet, but it did not exceed €10,000 (£8,560). Tonali also confessed to placing bets on other Premier League matches but denied betting on the Champions League or international football.
The FA’s written reasons also indicate that Tonali self-reported the breaches on October 20, 2023, which was deemed to be “the earliest possible opportunity.” This news comes after Brentford striker Ivan Toney completed an eight-month ban for breaching FA betting rules. Unlike Tonali’s 10-month ban, Toney was suspended from all football-related activity. He returned to action in January 2024. In September 2023, Nottingham Forest defender Harry Tofolo was given a suspended five-month ban after admitting to 375 breaches of betting rules. Tofolo had placed 40 historical bets involving his own team, 15 of which were against his own team. An independent regulatory commission cited Toffolo’s deteriorating mental health and belief that his football career was in decline as “very substantial mitigation” for his breaches of the FA’s betting rules.
