Lucas Paquetá was acquitted of the accusations of misconduct in sports bets in England. West Ham, the club in which the Brazilian operates, released the result of the sentence on Thursday (31) on his social networks.
Paquetá had been formally accused by the English Football Federation (FA) in May 2024, after an investigation that lasted 10 months.
Despite the suspicions and the complexity of the case, the Brazilian midfielder was considered innocent by an independent commission, responsible for evaluating the evidence presented by the defense and the English entity.
With the closure of disciplinary process, Paquetá is released to follow up his career in European football.
However, not all investigated were so lucky from the West Ham athlete.
No Brazil cases
The country has lived. Investigations have already hit prominent names in series A and B of national football.
Players were reported, suspended and even banned by results manipulation. Occurrences involve forced cards, simulated penalties and cash transfers. Among them:
There are also two cases in progress, with outcomes that follow unknown:
European players
Results manipulation investigations are not exclusive to Brazil. Other names in the football world have already suffered sanctions.
Ivan Toney
The received a suspension of eight months and a fine of over R $ 300 thousand after being accused of 232 violations of the FA code of conduct, between 2017 and 2023. In one of the bets, Toney would have foreseen defeat of his own team.
Today, he acts for Al-Ahli, from Saudi Arabia.
Sandro Tonali
Suspended for ten months by the Italian Federation (Figc), the Newcastle steering wheel confessed to betting on the victories of the clubs he defended: Brescia and Milan.
The infractions occurred while playing in Serie A Italian.
Understand Paquetá’s acquittal
A, after analysis of the independent FA committee.
The accusations against the player were based on rule E5.1, which prohibits any involvement in activities that may affect the integrity of competitions. FA claimed that Paquetá would have influenced the betting market by forcing cards in West Ham games.
The defense denied all accusations, maintaining that there was no deliberate intention in the actions of the player and that there were no conclusive evidence of manipulation. The committee accepted the defense arguments and declared the innocent player of all accusations.
With this, Paquetá is officially released from any sanction and will not suffer suspension, fine or disciplinary restriction.
