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West Ham and Brazilian midfielder Lucas Paqueta has been charged with alleged breaches of Football Association of betting rules after a probe into claims that he deliberately earned yellow cards. Paqueta has been charged with four breaches of FA rules in relation to his conduct in West Ham’s Premier League matches against Leicester in November 2022, Aston Villa in March 2023, Leeds in May 2023 and Bournemouth in August 2023.
The 26 year old has also been charged with two further breaches in respect of alleged failures to ‘comply pursuant to FA RuleF2’. Paqueta was interviewed by FA in September and gave the English game’s governing body access to his phone. The FA investigation started after suspicious betting patterns surrounding Paqueta’s booking for shoving Bournemouth’s Illia Zabarnyi in the closing minutes of a 1-1 draw on the opening day of this season.
‘West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta has been charged with misconduct in relation to alleged breaches of FA Rules W5 and F3’ an FA statement said on Thursday. ‘It is alleged that he directly sough 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.’
Paqueta has until June 3rd to respond to any request for an extension to the deadline. Witting on his Instagram page, Paqueta was quick to deny the charges. ‘I am extremely surprised and upset that the FA has decided to charge me,’ he said. ‘For nine months I have cooperated with every step of their investigation and provided all the information I can. I deny all the charges in their entirety and will fight with every breath to clear my name. Due to the ongoing process I will not be providing any other comment.’
