Lucas Paquetá of West Ham United is acquitted in a betting scandal. An investigating committee of the English Football Association acquitted the Brazilian on Thursday of deliberately taking yellow cards.
The 27-year-old Paquetá was charged last year by the English Football Association. He allegedly deliberately took yellow cards in Premier League matches between November 2022 and August 2023, from which one or more gamblers would have benefited.
Paquetá denied the accusations. After two years of investigation, the investigating committee had to conclude that the accusations could not be proven, even though the English Football Association and world football association FIFA noticed that a lot of money had been bet on one yellow card from Paquetá.
However, Paquetá is blamed for not answering questions from the investigating committee and not providing important information about the case. What punishment he will receive for this will be determined later.
Throughout the investigation, Paquetá ‘just’ played for his club West Ham United and for his country Brazil. The attacking midfielder was taken over by West Ham in the summer of 2022 for 43 million euros from Olympique Lyonnais. He also played 55 times for Brazil.
In the Premier League there have been more betting scandals in recent years. At the end of 2023, Newcastle United midfielder Sandro Tonali was suspended for ten months for betting on his own matches. He made his return last year.