FA decides not to appeal against West Ham's Lucas Paqueta being cleared of spot-fixing in historic judgement running over 300 pages

Paqueta has been cleared of spot-fixing following a two-year investigation by the FA. The Brazilian was accused of deliberately trying to pick up a yellow card in four Premier League games between November 2022 and August 2023 to influence betting markets. A lifetime ban from football was expected to have been handed down if a guilty verdict had been returned.

The Brazilian's wife has previously admitted it's been a "nightmare" time for her husband, while Paqueta has spoken of his gratitude at being cleared. The FA has now issued another update and confirmed it will not appeal the decision by an independent commission to clear the West Ham star.

A statement from the FA read: "The written reasons for the independent Regulatory Commission’s decisions on the misconduct charges against West Ham United FC’s Lucas Paqueta have now been published. The FA will not be appealing against the alleged breaches of FA Rule E5 that were found not proven by the Regulatory Commission. The Regulatory Commission will decide an appropriate sanction for the breaches of FA Rule F3 that were found proven and the details will be published at the earliest opportunity. The FA is committed to ensuring that the integrity of football is maintained, and full and thorough investigations will always be conducted into serious allegations of rule breaches."

Paqueta's lawyer Nick De Marco also posted a response 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. It is a careful, forensic decision which I encourage anyone interested to read in full. I remain delighted for my client Lucas, cleared of all the serious charges of spot-fixing, grateful to the whole legal team especially counsel Kendrah Potts & solicitor Alastair Campbell of Level, and also to the Regulatory Commission itself for its thorough, careful and fair determination of what was a difficult case for all involved. I shall not be making any further comment at this stage – the decision speaks for itself."

Paqueta is currently with the Brazil squad for World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Bolivia. He will then return to West Ham and hope to pick up where he left off after scoring in a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest last time out.