Daniel Sturridge banned and fined £75000 for breaking betting rules

Daniel Sturridge has been banned for six weeks and fined £75000 by the Football Association (FA) for breaking betting rules, according to media reports.

The charge against Sturridge had referred to allegedly passing on 'information relating to football which the participant has obtained by virtue of his or her position within the game and which is not publicly available at that time'. The former Liverpool striker faced a charge of 11 alleged breaches of guidelines but an independent commission that sat at the start of April to consider his misconduct dismissed nine of the 11 charges.

It is also being reported that the FA seems to upset over the leniency of the sentence, believing it is not a big enough punishment for what they consider to be serious offenses. They will be lodging an immediate appeal both against the punishment handed out - and the decision to dismiss the other charges.

Sturridge, whose contract at Liverpool ended last month, was accused by the FA last November of breaking strict guidelines relating to his loan move to West Bromwich Albion in January 2018.

Betting offenses have previously resulted in heavy sanctions, with Joey Barton banned for 18 months last year after accepting an FA charge relating to 1,260 bets over 10 years.