FA Charges Kieran Trippier For Alleged Breach of Betting Rules

Kieran Trippier, a 29-year-old football player for Atlético Madrid, has been accused of breaching FA rules on betting participation by footballers. Will he face similar fate to what happened with Daniel Sturridge?

The FA Charges Kieran Trippier for Breaching Betting and Integrity Rules

Back in 2019, Kieran Trippier said that he had left Tottenham because he “needed a new challenge.” A challenge has arisen alright, but not one that Trippier has particularly enjoyed.

Atletico Madrid’s player is now facing charges that he has breached betting rules set out by the Football Association in England. The FA dated the player’s misconduct back to July 2019. At the time, the footballer breached rules E8(1)(a)(ii) and E8(1)(b), the Association claimed.

The FA was rather concise and hasn’t shared further details about the allegations. Kieran has publicly disagreed with the charges and has made a statement refuting them.

“I have fully complied with the FA’s investigation over the past several months on a voluntary basis and will continue to do so. I want to make it clear that while a professional footballer I have at no stage placed any football related bets or received any financial benefit from others betting.”

Accusation on Breaching the Rules, but Which Ones?

The English Football Association gave deadline until May 18 for Trippier to respond to the accusations. A quick check in the FA’s rulebook on Betting Rules reveal that E8(1)(a)(ii) refers to:

“a participant shall not bet, either directly or indirectly, or instruct, permit, cause or enable any person to bet on – (i) the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of, or occurrence in or in connection with, a football match or competition; or (ii) any other matter concerning or related to football anywhere in the world, including, for example and without limitation, the transfer of players, employment of managers, team selection or disciplinary matters.“

Further to the first breach of rules, the second one, E8(1)(b) relates to: “or where a participant provides to any other person any information relating to football which the participant has obtained by virtue of his or her position within the game and which is not publicly available at that time, the participant shall be in breach of this rule where any of that information is used by that other person for, or in relation to, betting.”

Trippier is Not the First Player with Such Accusations

Placing the violation of betting rules on a timeline, it looks like the FA is pointing towards the transfer that Trippier did back in 2019. Back then, he was a part of the English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur when, on July 17, he decided to leave and join Spanish La Liga’s Atletico Madrid.

This is not the first time the FA has brought up players on similar accusations. Back in March, former Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge was suspended for a period of four months due to breaching the FA rules and regulations on betting by professional footballers.

Recently, former Manchester City player Dickson Etuhu was handed a five-year ban in Sweden for match-fixing –  a potentially career-ending penalty for the already ripe in age player.