Trippier banned for 10 weeks

Atletico Madrid and England right back Kieran Trippier has been suspended for 10 weeks and fined £70 000 following a breach of betting rules, the Football Association said yesterday.

Trippier denied seven alleged breaches of FA Rule E8(1)(b), but four were found proven during a personal hearing.

Rule E8(1)(b) states that a participant must not provide to any 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 FA did not clarify what the breach entailed but said it had occurred in July 2019, around the time Trippier joined Atletico Madrid for a reported £20 million from Tottenham Hotspur.

“The independent regulatory commission’s written reasons for its decisions and the associated sanction will be published in due course,” the FA said in a statement.

“The suspension, which includes all football and football-related activity, is effective worldwide from today (yesterday) following an application to Fifa.”

Trippier has been one of the standout performers for Diego Simeone’s Atletico side, playing every minute of their LaLiga and Champions League games this season.

The 30-year-old will now miss at least 13 games for the LaLiga leaders in all competitions, including their Champions League last-16 first leg tie at home to Chelsea on February 23.

Trippier’s ban comes around nine months after former England striker Daniel Sturridge was punished for a breach of the FA’s gambling rules.

He was initially handed a six-week ban, four of them suspended, and fined £75 000 after being found guilty of providing his brother with information on a potential move from Liverpool to Sevilla in 2018.

After the FA appealed against the decision on the grounds that it was too lenient, an independent appeal board increased the ban to four months and doubled the fine.