Former Peterborough United striker Ivan Toney banned from football for eight months over betting breaches

The 27-year-old was handed a ban to run until January 16, 2024 on Wednesday after appearing before an FA disciplinary panel this week.

Toney was initially charged with 262 breaches of FA betting rules in November.

He admitted 232 of those but contested a further 30, which the FA decided to withdraw.

Toney has also been fined £50,000 and warned about his future conduct.

He will only be allowed to train with Brentford for the final four months of this suspension, meaning he will be absent from the club’s training sessions until September 17.

Toney was charged with breaching the FA Rule E8- which states that “a participant shall not bet, either directly or indirectly, or instruct, permit, cause or enable any person to bet on the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of, or occurrence in or in connection with a football match or competition or any other matter related to football anywhere in the world.”

All of Toney’s betting offences took place between February 25, 2017 and January 23, 2021.

During that period, he played for Scunthorpe and Wigan on loan and joined Posh in the summer of 2018, leaving for Championship Brentford in the summer of 2020.

The written reasons for the decision will be published in due course. The news is expected to be bad news as it set to scupper a big-money summer move for the striker. Several Premier League clubs, such as Chelsea and Manchester United have been linked with the forward. Posh are due a percentage of any future fee Brentford receive.