12th November, 2018
Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge has been charged by the Football Association with misconduct for alleged breaches of its betting rules.
The charge relates to the period of January 2018 and Sturridge has until 18:00 GMT on Tuesday, 20 November to respond.
It is alleged he breached one rule relating to betting on football, and one which covers providing information relating to football which has been “obtained by virtue of his position” and “is not publicly available”.
BBC quoted a Liverpool’s spokesman said: “Daniel has given his full and unequivocal co-operation throughout this process and has assured the club he will continue to do so.
“Daniel has also stated categorically that he has never gambled on football.
“As with any issue of this nature, we will allow the process to be concluded in its entirety before making any further comment.”
Sturridge, who joined Liverpool from Chelsea in 2013, spent the second half of last season at West Brom after moving on loan on 29 January.
He has won 26 caps for England, the last of which came against Lithuania in October 2017.
An FA statement said the charge against him was “specifically in relation to Rule E8(1)(a)(ii) and Rule E8(1)(b)” which are:
Rule E8(1)(a) – a participant shall not bet, either directly or indirectly, or instruct, permit, cause or enable any person to bet on – (i) the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of, or occurrence in or in connection with, a football match or competition; or (ii) any other matter concerning or related to football anywhere in the world, including, for example and without limitation, the transfer of players, employment of managers, team selection or disciplinary matters.
Rule E8(1)(b) – where a participant provides to any other person any 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 participant shall be in breach of this Rule where any of that information is used by that other person for, or in relation to, betting.