The Football Association has said it will not appeal against the decision by an independent commission to clear West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta of four spot-fixing charges.
The written reasons for the commission’s decisions in the case were published on Wednesday afternoon.
Sanctions in relation to two charges which were found proven – relating to an alleged failure to co-operate with the FA investigation – will be decided by the commission at the earliest opportunity, the FA said.
“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,” the governing body said in a statement.
It had been alleged Paqueta deliberately attempted to receive a card in four Premier League games between November 2022 and August 2023, but the charges were found not proven.
The FA said 253 separate bettors placed bets on Paqueta being yellow-carded over the four matches, and the FA said 27 could be linked to the player.
Paqueta maintained he only had a real relationship with five of the people. He said he did not speak to the five regularly, and even then, rarely about football.
The FA said the 253 bettors laid stakes of £47,000 and made a profit of £167,000.
However, the commission concluded that an analysis of the betting data was not “illustrative of a spot-fix”.
The commission added: “Rather, in the commission’s view, it is in many respects inconsistent with a spot-fix, but consistent with alternative explanations.”
Former West Ham manager David Moyes and ex-Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg gave evidence on Paqueta’s behalf from a performance perspective.
Moyes told the commission: “I have re-watched the yellow card incidents closely and, based on my own footballing experience and knowledge of (Paqueta) consider them to be entirely within the normal range of actions for this player.”
Clattenburg disagreed with findings presented by Stats Perform Integrity Services (SPIS) in support of the FA’s case, and felt two of the four yellow cards should not have been shown.
The commission concluded there was “nothing in Paqueta’s on-field conduct” which advanced the FA’s case that he had deliberately sought to be booked in any of the four games.
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Lucas Paqueta was on target for West Ham in their first win of the season at Nottingham Forest on Sunday
The commission found the FA’s inability to locate one item of data from either of the player’s mobile phones that even mentioned betting or had any connection to one of the four games related to the charges was a significant point in favour of Paqueta’s defence and indicated he was being truthful about his lack of interest in gambling.
The commission drew no adverse inference from the fact messages had been deleted from Paqueta’s phone because a time-sensitive automatic deletion function had been activated. The FA accepted it could not be proved Paqueta had deliberately deleted any messages or contacts.
More than 300 deleted messages were recovered, none of which had anything to do with spot-fixing. The commission said this was “a salient reminder to the commission not to jump to conclusions and the dangers of drawing adverse inferences from events unknown”.
Alastair Campbell, a partner at the law firm Level and the head of Paqueta’s legal team, said on Wednesday: “Lucas is a deeply religious man, absolutely dedicated to his wife and young children. The evidence not only showed he has no interest in gambling whatsoever, but confirmed that his integrity as both a player and a person is beyond doubt.
“With this case no longer hanging over him, he can stop speaking to lawyers and focus fully on what matters most: faith, family and football.
“We are still making submissions in relation to the non-cooperation charge. But in a case where his entire career was at risk, Lucas is unquestionably the successful party. It’s fantastic to see him playing so well without this burden – he has his mojo back.”