Lucas Paqueta discovers FA ban verdict after two-year investigation into West Ham star
The West Ham and Brazil star was investigated by English football's governing body for alleged breaches since August 2023 but has today been acquitted of all charges.
Paqueta said: 'Since the first day of this investigation, I have maintained my innocence against these extremely serious accusations. I can't say anything more at this time, but I would like to express how grateful I am to God and how eager I am to return to playing football with a smile on my face. To my wife who never let go of my hand, to West Ham United, to the fans who always cheered me on, and to my family, friends and the legal team who have supported me - thank you for everything.'
The FA launched its investigation back in August 2023 following allegations that the West Ham playmaker was involved in spot-fixing offences across four Premier League matches that took place between November 2022 and August 2023. He was officially charged in May 2024.
Although Paqueta did not place any bets himself, it was alleged that friends and family in Brazil profited after betting on yellow cards for the midfielder. The Brazilian faced the prospect of a lifetime ban if the verdict went against him.
The yellow cards in question came in matches against Leicester in November 2022, Aston Villa in March 2023, Leeds in May 2023 and Bournemouth in August 2023.
At the time of charging him, The FA said that Paqueta tried to "influence the progress, conduct, or any other aspect of, or occurrence in these matches by intentionally seeking to receive a card from the referee for the improper purpose of affecting the betting market in order for one or more persons to profit from betting." He was also charged with failing to comply with their investigation.
West Ham United Vice-Chair Karren Brady said: 'We are pleased Lucas has been cleared. He has maintained his innocence from the outset, and as a club we have resolutely stood by him and supported him throughout the process.
"Despite the incredible pressure on him, Lucas has performed week in and week out for the club, always giving everything. It has been a difficult time for Lucas and his family, but he has remained absolutely professional throughout and he is now looking forward to drawing a line under this episode, as is everyone at West Ham United."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
29 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
'I found out on Twitter I had a brain tumour and could die – my diagnosis was hidden from me'
Former Brazilian international Leandro Castan has opened up on the brain tumour that nearly ended his life and how doctors at Italian club Roma kept him in the dark about his condition Former Roma defender Leandro Castan has revealed that the Italian club hid his life-threatening brain tumour diagnosis from him. Brazilian-born Castan, 38, played in Serie A for six seasons. The centre-back has now recounted his story on how the devastating illness reshaped his life. Shockingly, the former Brazil international, once highly rated, opened up on how he learned of his condition from Twitter, now known as X. His ordeal began during a game with Empoli, when Castan was forced to leave the pitch at half-time after falling ill. He explained to Corriere della Sera: "In those 15 minutes, my career ended." He added: "A part of me died. During the warm-up, I felt discomfort in my flexor muscle. At the end of the first half, Maicon told [former Roma manager] Rudi Garcia: 'Castan isn't well.' "I was substituted. I left the pitch, forever. When I got home, I started to feel unwell. The next morning, things got worse; my head was spinning. I thought I was going to die." Castan then went for a check up and despite his condition violently worsening, club doctors refused to enlighten him on just what was going on. He said: "Immediately. After an MRI scan, they sent me home. The club doctor was worried but didn't tell me what was wrong. I never thought I could experience something like this. The first 15 days were terrible. I couldn't stand up, I vomited a lot, I lost 20 kg. I had no strength. At first, Roma chose to hide everything. I decided to isolate myself and delete social media. But one day I looked at my phone. "An article on Twitter: 'Leandro Castan has a tumour, he could die.' Fear overwhelmed me. I still didn't know what I had. No one had told me anything. Neither the club nor the doctors. No one. 'Stay calm,' they kept telling me. Then I remembered my grandfather had died from brain cancer. I thought fate might be the same for me. "I found myself in a hospital bed with a tumour in my head. I had to learn to live again, a different life, and fight with an illness that was slowly growing inside me. I did everything to get back to my level. Everything. It wasn't possible." Castan then touched upon just how life-threatening his diagnosis was, forcing him to leave the game he loves, behind. He said that his only choice was the terrifying prospect of risky surgery. "Weeks later, they told me I had a cerebral cavernoma. I would have to say goodbye to football," he added. "Darkness invaded my mind. I was confused. When I arrived at the clinic, they explained: 'If you take a knock during a match, you could have a brain haemorrhage and die. Either you stop or you have surgery.' They would have to open my head, which is a very dangerous operation. I didn't want to do it." Realising that he wanted to continue playing, Castan agreed to have the operation. "A Roma match on TV. Watching it, something clicked inside me. I didn't want to stop playing football. The doctor suggested we meet after the Christmas holidays; I couldn't wait that long. A week later, I was in surgery. "My only concern was staying alive so as not to leave my wife and children alone. The day before surgery, I went to Trigoria (Roma's training ground) to train. Everyone called me mad, but I needed it." While the surgery was a success, Castan was stunned by just how much he had to relearn every day basics. "As soon as I woke up, I burst into tears with my wife. I wasn't dead," he said. "The following months were tough. I had to learn how to live again. My life had changed, even daily things. At first it was hard just picking up a glass from a table. Or if I looked at my feet, they wouldn't move. But the real problem wasn't daily life, it was football." Castan now looks back on the nightmarish saga with profound gratitude. "All I can say is thank you to Italy and Roma. They welcomed me and stood by me at my most difficult moment. "What the fans, Sabatini (Roma director), team-mates did for me is incredible: they gave me the best care, paid my wages and renewed my contract even without playing. And messages came from all over Italy: [Franco] Baresi, [Max] Allegri, [Alessandro] Del Piero, [Leonardo] Bonucci… they made their support felt and gave me strength. And many team-mates stood by me too: Emerson Palmieri, De Rossi, Maicon, Alisson, Radja [Nainggolan], Benatia, just to name a few." Castan has since returned to Brazil where he is now a coach, happy to be alive and emerged in the game he loves once more. "I like being on the field, smelling the grass, getting in touch with the guys," he said. "My time is not over yet. There is another life in football for Leandro Castan."
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Luke Littler makes honest admission and shares private chat with manager - 'Really tough'
Luke Littler has opened up about how he copes with his exhaustive darts schedule as he basks in the glory of becoming World Matchplay champion for the first time Luke Littler has admitted that juggling his intense schedule has been one of the toughest aspects of his meteoric rise in darts. The Nuke has added another big prize to his burgeoning collection by winning the World Matchplay for the first time. Littler beat James Wade 18-13 in the final to complete darts' Triple Crown, which also includes the World Championship and the Premier League. The 18-year-old has also won the Grand Slam of Darts and the UK Open since bursting onto the scene as a 16-year-old at the 2023/24 World Championship. Littler has already completed two Premier League campaigns - winning one and reaching the final in the other - which puts huge demands on the players involved, as nights often precede European Tour events. To ease his workload, the teenager skips the occasional tournament. 'I pull out of tournaments to give me two free days off because it can be tough, especially when the Premier League's on,' he exclusively told Mirror Sport. 'You don't get many days off from February up until May. It's just about managing the schedule and not overdoing it. At the start of the year, me and my manager put everything in the calendar so we know what's coming. 'So if I'm worn out or tired from a Euro Tour - you come back on a Sunday, then there's Pro Tours on Monday, Tuesday - you're not going to do them. It's all about managing the schedule, focusing on yourself and not tiring yourself out.' Littler's schedule, including media and PR commitments, means he has little time to reflect on his achievements of the last 18 months. Next week, for instance, he flies Down Under for World Series events in Australia and New Zealand. He said: 'There's not enough time to sit back and look at what I've done. When I've got a week off, I don't want to be sat down analysing what I've done in the past. I know what I've done, I can see the trophies in my living room. It's about living in the moment.' Following the World Series, which culminates in September, Littler and his rivals will turn their attention to the run of majors leading into the expanded World Championship, which begins on December 11. Of the majors, Littler is looking to win the World Grand Prix, European Championship, and Players Championships Finals for the first time. He said: 'Everyone wants to win the majors before the Worlds. I want to go back-to-back in the Grand Slam and do well at the Grand Prix.' Littler has teamed up with KP for the 'Nuts for Darts' campaign, which will see one lucky pub win an appearance from the world champion, who will spend an evening at the victorious boozer and throw some arrows with locals. Littler said: 'We need people to go to their landlords and get them to enter to get an appearance from me in their own pub. It's a brilliant idea by KP.' KP Nuts 'are giving one lucky pub the chance to win an appearance from Luke Littler as part of the 'Nuts for Darts' campaign. Rally your landlord to pick up a promotional pub cards to enter from 11th August.
New Statesman
an hour ago
- New Statesman
Gen Z cannot stop gambling
Illustration by Hardie / Ikon Images Every generation through history has had its vices. But Gen Z has apparently bucked the trend. Reading the headlines, you will learn that none of us have sex, and that we only drink when the ever-steepening pub prices seem marginally more affordable. Oscar Wilde would ask rightly whether we have a single redeeming vice. But as Gen Z teeters back and forth on the ledge overhanging conservative prudism, gambling appears to be emerging as our sole saving grace. The stoner has become the dopamine junky. Research shows that Gen Z – and specifically its male cohort – is leading the way on most gambling and sports betting participation. That's not to say that Gen Z are devotees at the altar of the cardsharp and the crapshooter. If you happen to find yourself at any sport-inclined pub in student areas on a Sunday afternoon, you will likely find a hyper-focused group of early-twenty-somethings huddled around the almighty deity that is Paddy Power. Séanced around a few Wetherspoons pitchers, these believers pray to the benevolent bookies and footballing gods that their bet-builder on an irrelevant 3pm mid-table Premier League clash pulls through, so that they can enjoy the fruits of their hard-earned labour – another round of drinks. None of them really care about the result, of course, but their fixation is symbolic of the ever-growing love for online betting as a social occasion. In some cases, the stakes seem to be drifting away from the old football-horse axis and becoming increasingly abstruse. Gen Z have collectively staked millions on things including ferret bingo, wife carrying and even who the next pope would be. A new national survey by the Gambling Commission found that the 18-24 demographic led all respondents in saying that they take part 'because it's fun' (87 per cent), 'to be sociable' (55 per cent), and 'because it's something I do with my friends or family' (58 per cent). Conversely, in comparison to older punters, Gen Z ranked last in interest of winning a large payout. This normalisation of gambling, of course, has seeds in Gen Z's native habitat: the internet. Influencers and online streamers have popularised the gamification of gambling. Platforms like Stake and Rainbet have capitalised on the trend of micro-transactions. The game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has a market for in-game skins (essentially, avatar costumes), now worth $4.3bn. And, similar to physical casinos, this digital house always wins, and handsomely so. Influencers entice their (often underage) audiences with the promise of riches won at the online table. Félix 'xQc' Lengyel switched from the conventional streaming site Twitch to the younger, hotter and more libertarian Kick – in order to maintain his partnership with an online casino upon which he has placed more than a million bets totalling more than $3.6bn. Luckily for Lengyel, his sponsorship more than recoups the $100m or so that he's lost over the course of his illustrious career. His audience cannot rely on the same guarantees. The hit of dopamine that flows on each gambling win supports a common theory that the attention spans of Gen Z have declined. Their ability to concentrate is, as the lingo goes, 'cooked'. The consensus seems to be that Gen Z are only more prudish because we are less socialised, or that we drink less only because we cannot afford it. But our woes aren't helped by an increasing dependence on Bet365 and Stake to make our lives more exciting. Instead of heeding the wisdom of Kenny Rogers' 'The Gambler' – 'Know when to walk away/And know when to run' – Gen Z are increasingly choosing to sprint towards the embrace of Big Gambling's hedonistic abyss. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe [See also: Brewdog Britain is dead] Related
