Brentford striker Ivan Toney has been suspended from all football-related activity for eight months after being charged with more than 300 breaches of betting rules.
The ban, which starts with immediate effect, runs up to and including 16 January 2024. Toney has also been fined £50,000 and warned as to his future conduct.
In a statement, the FA confirmed: “The Brentford forward was charged with 262 breaches of FA Rule E8 in total between 25 February 2017 and 23 January 2021. The FA subsequently withdrew 30 of these breaches and he admitted to the remaining 232.
“His sanctions were subsequently imposed by an independent regulatory commission following a personal hearing. He is permitted to return to training only with his club for the final four months of his suspension starting from 17 September 2023.
“The independent regulatory commission’s written reasons for these sanctions will be published in due course, and The FA will wait to review them before commenting further.”
Toney made his England debut earlier this year in a Euro 2024 qualifier against Ukraine, a reward for a season in which only Erling Haaland (36) and Harry Kane (27) have scored more Premier League goals than his tally of 20.
However, he was overlooked for the Three Lions’ squad for the World Cup in Qatar, with news of the FA’s case against him being made public days after that announcement. FA chief Mark Bullingham said the decision had been made on “footballing grounds”, with Newcastle’s Callum Wilson selected instead.
Commenting on Toney’s case in March, James Grimes, the lead co-ordinator of The Big Step campaign which aims to end all gambling advertising and sponsorship in football, told i that any punishment given to the Brentford forward would be hypocritical given the prevalence of betting companies within the English game.
“I think it just says everything that you need to know about gambling and football in that it basically wants to have its cake and eat it,” Grimes said. “It wants to rake in money to promote online casinos in front of millions of young fans whilst coming down hard on footballers who inevitably gamble.”
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