Ivan Toney handed eight-month ban for breaching betting rules

Brentford striker Ivan Toney has been suspended from all football-related activity with immediate effect for eight months and fined £50,000, the FA has announced.

The England international was charged with 262 breaches of the Football Association’s betting rules between 25 February 2017 and 23 January 2021.

The FA withdrew 30 of the breaches, and he admitted to the remaining 232.

His sanctions were imposed by an independent Regulatory Commission following a hearing.

Toney can return to training only with his club for the final four months of his suspension, starting from 17 September 2023.

Toney issued a statement expressing his disappointment at the outcome.

“Today I have received notification of my eight-month ban from football following a hearing before an FA regulatory commission that took place yesterday,” the Brentford striker wrote on Twitter.

“I am naturally disappointed that I will be unable to play for the next eight months.

“The written reasons for the commission’s decision have not yet been published, so I make no further comment at this point other than to thank my family and friends, Brentford FC and our fans for their continued support, through what has been a very difficult time.

“I now focus on returning to play the game I love next season.”

Brentford issued a statement, saying: “Brentford FC notes the decision of an independent Regulatory Commission to issue an eight-month ban from all football and football-related activity to Ivan Toney with immediate effect.”

The 27-year-old, who has scored 20 goals for Brentford in the Premier League this season was charged with breaking FA rule E8, which refers to players being barred from betting on games or sharing information for betting purposes.

Toney admitted to the charges back in February, after they were issued in December 2022, but despite the knowledge of the ongoing hearings, Gareth Southgate elected to hand the forward a maiden England cap on March 26 against Ukraine at Wembley.

Since he was first charged by the FA, Toney has scored a number of key goals for the Bees, and he struck a further six since admitting the charges in February.

Toney is far from the only footballer to have received bans for gambling. Newcastle and England defender Kieran Tripper faced a 10 week ban in December 2020 for giving information out for others to bet on his transfer to Atletico Madrid from Tottenham.

While in 2017, then-Burnley midfielder Joey Barton was banned for 18 months after he admitted to making over a thousand bets between 2006 and 2013, although his sentence was eventually reduced to 13 months after an appeal.