Playing Gambling, Sandro Tonali Sentenced To 10 Months

Newcastle United and the Italian national team, Sandro Tonali. (Photo: Instagram)

JAKARTA Newcastle United midfielder and Italian national team Sandro Tonali are officially banned from playing for 10 months by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) for playing gambling.

FIGC President Gabriele Gravina confirmed the sentence to the media following a meeting at the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) in Rome, Thursday, October 26, 2023.

In addition to being banned from playing, the 23-year-old must also take part in an eight-month rehabilitation program due to gambling addiction.

"The prosecutors of FIGC and Tonali have reached an agreement that I have approved," said the FIGC president as reported by Football Italia.

"The agreement consists of a 10-month ban on playing plus eight months of rehabilitation activities and at least 16 times social work," he continued.

This ban automatically means that Tonali will not appear again until August next year. This made it certain that he would not be able to appear at Euro 2024 if Italy qualified for the event.

In addition, he also cannot strengthen Newcastle for the rest of the season and is required to pay 20 thousand euros. However, he allowed him to practice with his club while serving his sentence.

Previously, the former AC Milan midfielder admitted that he had gambled after a meeting that lasted almost three hours last week.

This includes a match involving Milan. However, he was not investigated for potential match fixing.

Tonali joined Newcastle from AC Milan in July with a transfer value of 55 million or equivalent to 1 trillion rupiah.

Before Tonali, earlier this month, Juventus midfielder Nicolo Fagioli also received a seven-month ban from FIGC for gambling.

He was initially sentenced to 12 months of playing, but reduced by five months in exchange for rehabilitation of gambling addiction and social work 10 times for socialization of the bad effects of gambling.