Ivan Toney has been banned from football for eight months after he accepted to have broken Football Association betting rules.
Toney, who is 27 years old, will not be playing for Brentford or England national team until January 16, 2024 as a result of his extraordinary ban.
The Brentford attacker was charged in November 2022 with 232 breaches of the FA’s gambling laws between 2017 and 2021.
Recall that we talked about the charges as well as FA adding a further 30 charges that took place between 2017 and 2019 the following month before they were withdrawn.
Ivan Toney was also fined £50,000 after confirming to the allegations of the alleged breaches.
English FA in a statement said: “Ivan Toney has been suspended from all football and football-related activity with immediate effect for eight months, which runs up to and including 16 January 2024, fined £50,000 and warned as to his future conduct for breaches of The FA’s Betting Rules.”
“The Brentford FC forward was charged with 262 breaches of FA Rule E8 in total between 25 February 2017 and 23 January 2021. The FA subsequently withdrew 30 of these breaches and he admitted to the remaining 232.”
An independent regulatory commission also imposed Toney’s sanctions which will see him not partake in Brentford’s training until September 17.
FA continued in a statement, saying: “His sanctions were subsequently imposed by an independent Regulatory Commission following a personal hearing. He is permitted to return to training only with his club for the final four months of his suspension starting from 17 September 2023.”
“The independent Regulatory Commission’s written reasons for these sanctions will be published in due course, and The FA will wait to review them before commenting further.”
Who is Ivan Toney?
Ivan Benjamin Elijah Toney is an English footballer who was born on 16 March 1996 and plays as a striker for Brentford and the England national team.
Toney became the youngest player to represent Northampton Town when he made his first-team debut in 2012.
At Northampton Town, he scored 13 goals in 60 matches across all competitions before moving to Newcastle United in 2015.
Toney at Newcastle had two successive loan spells with Barnsley, winning the 2015–16 Football League Trophy and the 2016 League One play-offs.
The England international also spent the following two years on loan in League One with Shrewsbury Town, Scunthorpe United, and Wigan Athletic.
Ivan Toney moved to Peterborough United permanently for an undisclosed fee in 2018 and he was named both League One top scorer and Player of the Season in 2019–20.
From Peterborough, he signed for his current club Brentford where he helped the club secure promotion to the Premier League after scoring a record-setting 31 goals.
The forward was called up for the first time for England national team in 2023 before he made his first international debut in 2023.
