The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has suspended Newcastle and Italy center-forward Sandro Tonali for ten months for violating betting rules.
According to information that 1Family Radio has received, the 23-year-old won’t be able to play until August and won’t be able to represent Italy in the summer at Euro 2024.
However, he is free to engage in training with Newcastle and participate in friendlies.
On October 12, Tonali and colleague midfielder Nicolo Zaniolo—who is on loan at Aston Villa from Galatasaray—were told they were the subject of an Italian prosecution’s inquiry, and as a result, they were compelled to leave Italy’s training camp.
As part of his agreement with Italian authorities, he must also attend problem gambler treatment sessions and give a series of speeches about his experience over an additional eight months.
Although Tonali was given an 18-month suspension, FIGC President Gabriele Gravina stated that eight of those months might be served as a grace period if he attended treatment for his gambling addiction and made at least sixteen public appearances at facilities for young soccer players and associations for addicts in recovery.
“We can’t just think about punishing the boys and not helping them recover,” Gravina said.
“I think it’s worth a lot more than a month ban—eight months of giving talks about what they went through in an honest way and with the right behavior,’’ he added.
In July, Tonali made a £55 million move to Newcastle from AC Milan.
Tonali led Milan to their first Serie A championship in eleven years in 2021–22 and the Champions League semifinals the previous season during a three-year tenure at San Siro.
Source: 1Familyradio