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Daniel Sturridge Gets ￡75,000 Fine and Six-Week Ban for Gambling Offense

  • The striker is facing charges of passing on inside information about potential transfers
  • A number of family members were looked at as part of the investigation
  • The FA was pushing for a six-month ban and is now planning to appeal the decision
  • Sturridge is currently without a club and happy that the case is nearly behind him
Andrew O’Malley

footballer daniel sturridge with other with other liverpool fc players
Footballer Daniel Sturridge is facing a six-week playing ban and a ￡75,000 fine after being found guilty of gambling-related offenses.

Details of the charges

Premier League footballer Daniel Sturridge is facing a six-week ban from the sport and a fine of ￡75,000 ($93,965). This relates to his alleged breaches of FA gambling rules in 2018. The enquiry began in November 2018 and took a number of months to come to a conclusion. 

An independent commission dealt with the case. They found him guilty of the charge of passing “information relating to football which the participant obtained by virtue of his or her position.”

Sturridge allegedly passed on inside information to his brother to place bets on him transferring to Sevilla FC.

FA not happy

A statement by the FA on the case informed that the Regulatory Commission imposed a six-week suspension from domestic football matches, effective from July 17. It added that:

“Four weeks of that ban have been suspended until 31 August 2020, meaning that Mr Sturridge will be able to resume participating by 31 July 2019 in the event he commits no further breaches of FA Rule E8.”

The FA also stated it “respectfully disagrees” with this independent decision and is planning to file an appeal.

The FA was pushing for a six-month ban for the player – anything else would “wholly fail to reflect the gravity of the case”.

According to the FA’s case, this was a family affair. The inside information was provided by the footballer, with his brother having contacts in the betting sector. His father was then liaising with a cousin to make the bets. A total of ￡13,755.82 ($17,234.25) was bet by 28 people (including neighbors of the footballer’s parents), which saw returns of ￡10,762.56 ($13,484.53). There were ￡20,560 ($25,759.85) in additional bets that were not accepted by the bookmakers.

Follow-up

Sturridge is currently without a club. He left Liverpool FC when his contract expired at the end of the most recent season. He did not move to Sevilla last winter, joining West Bromwich Albion on loan instead.  

Sturridge issued a statement on the culmination of the enquiry. He expressed satisfaction at the panel finding him honest and credible, deeming his actions to be out of character, and dismissing nine of the 11 charges against him. 

He also felt it was “extremely disappointing to hear that the FA will be appealing this decision. I will continue to defend the case and the appeal.”

The 29-year-old striker is currently without a club, with Aston Villa being a frontrunner for his signature. In his career, Sturridge has been a player for Manchester City, Chelsea, and Liverpool. He was also loaned to Bolton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion.

Since earning his first senior England cap in 2011, Sturridge has made 26 appearances for his country, scoring eight goals in that time. 

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