West Ham United midfielder Lucas Paqueta is thinking about taking legal action against the Football Association (FA) after being cleared of spot fixing charges. His legal team is said to be looking at all possible options after an independent commission gave a harsh assessment of the FA’s case.
The 28-year-old Brazilian had been accused of four counts of deliberately picking up yellow cards to influence betting markets. The FA alleged that Paqueta “intentionally sought 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” in matches against Leicester City, Aston Villa, Leeds United and Bournemouth between November 2022 and August 2023. Manchester City had shown interest in signing Paqueta for £80 million before the charges came up.
He denied any wrongdoing and was fully cleared in July 2025. Written reasons released on Wednesday (September 3), reveal how the FA put its case together and explain why the commission decided to reject it.
‘Lack of an independent expert assessment’
At the heart of the FA’s case was betting activity flagged by the International Betting Integrity Association. However, the commission criticized the FA for leaning too heavily on its own investigator instead of bringing in an independent betting expert.
“From the Commission’s perspective the evidence presented by The FA on the betting data had an obvious flaw, namely the lack of an independent expert assessment of that data. That The FA chose to advance the most important element of its case without any such independent expert assessment of it was, in the Commission’s view, surprising.” – The FA vs Lucas Paqueta
“On what The FA have accepted was the most important element of its case, it simply did not call independent expert evidence,” the report stated.
“Accordingly, whilst not Mr Astley’s fault, as he was doing what he had been directed to do, in circumstances where it was clearly and openly accepted by The FA that Mr Astley was not an independent expert, from the Commission’s perspective the evidence presented by The FA on the betting data had an obvious flaw, namely the lack of an independent expert assessment of that data.”
The panel added that there were other explanations for the betting activity that were just as believable: “The betting patterns may have emerged from a rather random passing of perceived ‘hot tips’ or perceived ‘inside information’ within Brazil as much as they may have emerged from a spot-fix.”
The commission also slammed the FA’s use of performance evidence, which it said suffered from “confirmation bias.” It noted that incidents on the pitch were “interpreted in a manner that assumed a guilty explanation when in reality they were at least equally consistent with normal football actions.”
The FA’s case also weakened when phone data analysis, once a key part of their argument, was dismissed after their own experts agreed with the opposing view put forward by Paqueta’s independent analyst. “The FA accept that this evidence… no longer has the evidential value or weight that The FA originally considered it to have,” the commission recorded.
In the end, the panel concluded that the FA had not met the standard of proof needed to support the charges: “The burden remains on The FA throughout to prove the case on the balance of probabilities… We unanimously conclude that The FA cannot discharge the burden upon it.”
Paqueta may be thinking of taking legal action against the FA
FA v Lucas Paquetá – written reasons published: https://t.co/sVhXQOyvJh
The independent Regulatory Commission’s written reasons in the Paquetá case have now been published.
Running to over 300 pages, the decision is understood to be the longest sports-related judgment ever… pic.twitter.com/NSIGmpOagD
— Nick De Marco KC (@nickdemarco_) September 3, 2025
For Paqueta, the decision is a huge relief after spending more than a year under suspicion. His lawyers are now deciding on their next move, with sources telling BBC Sport that they are looking at all options, including possible legal action against the FA for the damage caused by the accusations.
Representing the player, Nick De Marco KC, wrote on X: “Running to over 300 pages, the decision is understood to be the longest sports-related judgment ever issued in the world – a reflection of how serious the case was, the amount of evidence deployed in what was the biggest case in The FA’s history, and one of the most momentous in my own career as a sports lawyer.”
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The post Premier League star Lucas Paqueta ‘considers suing FA’ after spot fixing case collapse appeared first on ReadWrite.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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