A two-month ban suspended until the end of the season as long as he does not breach betting rules again. Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali was convicted by the English Football Federation following 50 bets made in the months following his move to the Premier League from Milan. The two-month conditional sanction established by the Football Association, however, does not extend the 10-month disqualification imposed by the FIGC for the same type of offense committed in Italy. The player will therefore be able to return to the field on August 28th, but he will have to pay a fee fine of 20 thousand pounds.
Sandro Tonali is disqualified for betting
The investigation by the English Federation began after that closed by the FIGC and refers to the bets made by Tonali between 12 August and 12 October 2023i.e. from the player’s debut with Newcastle after the move from Milan until the date of the national team’s retreat in Coverciano, abandoned together with Nicolò Zaniolo due to the explosion of the betting scandal.
The sporting condemnation received by Tonali in our country began on October 27, 2023 and also provides for another 8 months of alternative sentences, such as participation in meetings with young people from local amateur teams, organized by the Football Federation to explain the risks associated with betting.
The Football Association’s investigations started from the statements of the player himself who had asked to clarify his position to “put a definitive end to a negative and very painful parenthesis in his life and start again with strength at the end of the disqualification”, as declared by the GRSposts agency that takes care of your interests. During his self-report, the midfielder had confessed to having also bet on four matches of his current club, of which three saw him take to the pitch. From what the player said, he would always bet on Newcastle’s victory and never to win or earn money, but because he suffers from gambling addiction.
The condemnation of the Football Association
The player’s full collaboration was a central element for the formulation of a limited disqualification which, in the absence of recurrence, will be canceled at the end of the season: “Tonali has always collaborated with the investigations – announced the English Football Federation in notifying the reasons for the sentence – and also provided his mobile phone in order to give the FA all the elements to draw its own conclusions. The English federation based its investigation on Tonali’s self-report, pointing out as mitigating factors the existence of an already existing disqualification, the one established by the FIGC, for violations which – if committed in England – would have led to a maximum disqualification of 6 months“.
A behavior highlighted in a statement from Newcastle itself: “As recognized by the FA in the written reasons of the Independent Regulatory Commission, the level of cooperation that Sandro provided by self-reporting and cooperating fully with a subsequent investigation was extraordinary and unprecedented. Sandro fully admitted his betting activity and did so in circumstances where there was no other evidence to support a misconduct proceeding. Sandro continues to follow a therapeutic plan and an educational program with the full support from the club and will continue to train with his teammates“.
According to what emerged from the ruling of the English Federation, since receiving the disqualification Tonali has “significantly” reduced his salary, a voluntary cut of 90% on the contract of approximately 8 million euros per year.
