Lucas Paqueta: West Ham midfielder charged over four allegations he got deliberate yellow cards

West Ham’s Brazil international Lucas Paqueta has been charged by the Football Association with spot-fixing by deliberately earning yellow cards in four Premier League games over the past two seasons to benefit associates in Brazil.

The charges against the 26-year-old are serious in the extreme, with the £50 million club-record signing facing a long worldwide ban if he is found guilty by an independent commission. The FA investigation, which emerged in August 2023, is understood to have cost Paqueta a move to Manchester City last summer when the Premier League champions discovered there was a case against him.

The FA has named the games in which Paqueta is alleged to have picked up the bookings intentionally. There are two further charges, under the FA rule F3, alleging that the player failed to comply with the investigation into him.

Under the precise wording of the laws, Paqueta is charged on four counts for “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”.

The player immediately issued a statement on social media denying the charges “in their entirety”. Paqueta said he was “surprised and upset” by the FA decision. He also claimed that he had complied with the FA investigators over the past nine months.

Most online bookmakers offer odds on which team will be the first to receive a booking; as well as which specific player might do so. Suspicious betting patterns are relatively simple to spot. In Paqueta’s case it was a large number of bets placed from his hometown of Paqueta, an island in the bay of Guanabara after which he is named, in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro region.

The first of the Paqueta bookings for which the FA has charged the player was at home against Leicester City on Nov 12, 2022, for a lunge on Boubakary Soumaré – after which the Frenchman went off injured.

Against Aston Villa on March 12 last year he was booked for a foul on John McGinn. On May 21 last year he was booked for stopping a Leeds United counter-attack with a foul on the winger Crysencio Summerville. This season, Paqueta was booked against Bournemouth on August 12 last year for a high arm as he leapt for a ball in injury time at the end of the game. All those are part of the FA case.

‘I will fight with every breath to clear my name’

In his statement Paqueta said: “For nine months I have cooperated with every step of their [the FA] investigation and provided all the information I can. I deny 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 further comment.”

West Ham have said they will “support the player”. If found guilty by the independent commission, Paqueta could potentially face legal action from his club for breach of contract.

The FA forbids footballers from betting on any game, not least those they are involved in.

The Brentford and England striker Ivan Toney was banned for nine months and fined £50,000 in May last year for admitting 232 counts of breaching FA gambling regulations.

In 2018, the Lincoln City defender Bradley Wood was banned for five years for two bookings in separate FA Cup ties against Ipswich Town and Burnley, before which seven people placed bets on him being cautioned. He was given a further one-year ban for a further 22 charges of betting on matches, and another of passing on information.

In 2009, Hampshire Police decided not to pursue a case against Matt Le Tissier, then long-retired, for a scam with team-mates to fix the timing of the first throw-in during a game in 1995. He revealed in his autobiography, Taking Le Tiss, that he had planned to launch the ball into touch during a 2-0 win against Wimbledon, but in the event did not do so. The plan had been to cash in on a spread-bet.

A West Ham spokesman said it would support Paqueta: “Lucas categorically denies the breach and will continue to robustly defend his position. The club will continue to stand by and support the player throughout the process and will make no further comment until the matter is concluded.”

In most cases when a serious charge is made against a player, he organises his own defence. Paqueta has until June 4 to respond to the charges.