Tonali, Toney, Sturridge, Fagioli or Paquetá: other cases similar to that of Kike Salas

Up to three footballers from the English Premier League have been involved in situations with many similarities to that of Kike Salas lately. The most striking case is that of the Italian Sandro Tonali. Newcastle United paid Milan more than 60 million euros for the transfer of the Italian international midfielder and a few months later the player began to be investigated, receiving a sanction of ten months without playing for breaking betting regulations in Italy. The footballer admitted to being addicted to gambling (it was reported that he spent more than a million euros on bets) and was in therapy for it for eight months. He assumed he had bet on matches played by Milan or Brescia, teams of which he was a part.

Ivan Toneya forward who played last summer in the Euro Cup with the English team and who plays for Al-Ahli, pleaded guilty to more than 200 charges for breaking sports betting regulations between 2017 and 2020. He was reported for up to 262 cases . Initially, the English federation requested a sanction of up to fifteen months when it understood that the soccer player had lied and had tried to destroy evidence. The fact that he admitted his guilt and that he was addicted to gambling meant that the punishment was finally reduced to eight months, so he did not play between May 2023 and January 2024. Toney placed up to 126 bets in competitions in which he participated and Likewise, on 13 occasions he bet on his team’s defeat in games in which he did not participate. The footballer Joe Barton He was also sanctioned for placing up to 1,260 sports bets over ten years.

Last season the case of Lucas Paquetá who, like Kike Salas, is being investigated for forcing yellow cards so that his friends could benefit through bets. The West Ham footballer is exposed to a maximum sanction of ten years of inactivity since up to 60 friends and family would have benefited from it. Luiz Henriquewho was a Betis footballer until a year ago, could also have been involved in this case, since he would have received money for having seen yellow cards playing with the green and white team.

Also in England they received sanctions for sports betting Kieran Trippier and Daniel Sturridge. The first of them, formerly of Atlético de Madrid, had to serve his ten-week ban while in the mattress team. The footballer had opted for his transfer from Tottenham to Atlético de Madrid, something that ended up happening. Similar is the case of Sturridge, who invited his brother to bet on his signing for Sevilla in 2018. It didn’t end up happening, but the player received a four-month punishment and Trabzonspor terminated his contract.

In Italy, in addition to the case of Sandro Tonali, they have also had problems with sports justice for matters related to footballers. Nicolò Fagioli (Juventus), Nicolò Zaniolo (Atalanta) and Alessandro Florenzi (Milan). All of them were involved in the same investigation and the first of them spent seven months last year without being able to play, although the full sanction was twelve, serving five in therapy to combat his problem gambling. This season he plays regularly with Juventus and the Italian national team (he was among those called up for the last Euro Cup). Zaniolo, for his part, was left without a sanction since he admitted having been in a casino on an illegal platform, but not having placed sports bets. The same thing happened with Florenzi since the former Valencia player accepted having bet, although never on football.