England defender Kieran Trippier is handed a worldwide TEN-WEEK BAN and fined £70,000

Kieran Trippier has been banned for 10 weeks and fined £70,000 by the FA following misconduct in relation to breaches of betting regulations. 

The Atletico Madrid right back, 30, was charged by the FA in May and had to withdraw from the England squad in October for the Nations League fixture against Denmark to attend a personal hearing over the allegations. 

These relate to bets placed around the time of his move to Spain from Tottenham in July 2019 – an independent commission was appointed to hear the case, with four of the alleged breaches found proven and three dismissed.  

Kieran Tripper has been banned by the FA for 10 weeks after breaching betting regulations 

England international Trippier (R) currently plays for LaLiga leaders Atletico Madrid in Spain

Trippier’s worldwide suspension means he is banned from all football-related activity up to and including Sunday 28 February 2021, meaning he will miss the first-leg of Atletico Madrid’s last-16 Champions League tie against Chelsea and currently a total of 12 games for his club.  

With the present fixture list, his first game back will be against city rivals Real Madrid on March 7 and he will be available to Gareth Southgate for March’s 2022 World Cup qualifiers and Euro 2020 in the summer. 

Atletico Madrid’s first reaction on Wednesday afternoon was one of bemusement at having not been informed of the decision by the game’s governing body. They are furious at being kept in the dark and have yet to receive official confirmation of the ban.

Trippier is the only outfield player at the club to have played every minute in LaLiga so far this season and the Spanish club will be the principal victim of this ban. 

An FA statement read: ‘The Atletico Madrid defender denied seven alleged breaches of FA Rule E8(1)(b), which were said to occur during July 2019, and requested a personal hearing.

‘An independent regulatory commission was appointed to hear the case, with four of the alleged breaches found proven and three dismissed during a subsequent personal hearing.

‘The independent regulatory commission’s written reasons for its decisions and the associated sanction will be published in due course. 

The charge relates to bets placed when the right back moved from Tottenham to Atletico 

‘The suspension, which includes all football and football-related activity, is effective worldwide from today (Wednesday 23 December 2020) following an application to FIFA.’

Trippier was accused of breaking Rule E8(1)(a)(ii) and Rule E8(1)(b) of the FA’s Betting Rules which state players cannot place a bet relating to football or provide relevant confidential information to anyone who could bet on a scenario. 

FA Rule E8(1)(b) states: ‘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.’

In a similar scenario, ex-England international Daniel Sturridge recently served a four-month suspension after contravening betting rules following a loan move from Liverpool in January 2018.  

The 30-year-old moved to Spain after four years at Spurs. The defender played a significant role in the club’s rise under Mauricio Pochettino and his final game for the club came in the 2019 Champions League final. 

Trippier has been capped 25 times by England and scored in the 2018 World Cup semi-final

Trippier has also been capped 25 times by England and played a significant role in Gareth Southgate’s side during their 2018 World Cup run to the semi-finals.

The right-back scored a brilliant free-kick early on in the last-four clash against Croatia, who came back to win the tie 2-1 in extra-time. 

He also captained his country for the first time in the 3-0 friendly victory against Wales in October, describing it as the ‘biggest highlight of his career.’