West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta is exploring legal action against the Football Association after being cleared of spot-fixing allegations.
Sources close to the 28-year-old say his lawyers are examining every possible course of action.
The Brazilian faced charges in May 2024 for allegedly seeking bookings to influence betting markets. An independent commission cleared him on all four counts in July 2025.
The commission’s detailed written findings, released Wednesday, criticized the FA for not seeking independent expertise on key betting data. Paqueta’s team now studies the report and considers suing the FA.
The FA opened its investigation in August 2023, nine months before charging him. The probe led to the collapse of Paqueta’s £80 million transfer to Manchester City.
The commission noted that Paqueta and West Ham could have “received substantial sums running into tens of millions of pounds” and that both parties reserve all rights in this regard. The FA confirmed it will not appeal the decision.
How Paqueta cleared his name
A 314-page report from Sports Resolutions, an independent dispute resolution service, detailed the case. The document examined everything from former West Ham manager David Moyes’ assessment of yellow cards to conversations Paqueta’s mother had in a hair salon in Brazil.
The FA claimed 542 bets totaling £46,758.83 involved 253 bettors, with a collective return of £213,703.81, creating a net profit of £166,944.98. The commission said the case relied “entirely on circumstantial evidence.” It described the FA’s use of its own investigator to analyze betting data as both an “oddity” and a “flaw.”
The report highlighted that the FA did not call independent expert evidence for its most critical claim. Instead, it relied on the integrity investigator Tom Astley, who said betting on Paqueta “appears highly orchestrated.” The commission noted that FA legal counsel later disagreed with Astley and abandoned that claim without explanation.
The FA linked 27 of the 253 bettors to Paqueta, who insisted he had genuine relationships with only five. He said he rarely spoke with them and seldom discussed football. The commission found the betting patterns inconsistent with spot-fixing and consistent with alternative explanations.
Nick de Marco, part of Paqueta’s legal team, praised the decision. He called it “the longest sports-related judgment ever issued in the world” and highlighted the evidence volume in the FA’s largest case.
On-field conduct within normal range
Ex-West Ham manager David Moyes, now with Everton, and former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg testified on Paqueta’s performance. Moyes said he had “re-watched the yellow card incidents closely” and considered them “entirely within the normal range of actions for this player.” Clattenburg disputed the FA’s stats analysis and said two yellow cards should not have been shown. He added that each challenge occurred commonly in matches.
The commission found nothing in Paqueta’s play to suggest he deliberately sought bookings in the four matches. It also noted the FA could not find any data on Paqueta’s phones linking him to betting or the games under scrutiny. This strongly supported Paqueta’s claim of disinterest in gambling.
More than 300 deleted messages were recovered, none related to spot-fixing. The FA acknowledged it could not prove that Paqueta intentionally deleted any gambling-related messages. The commission warned against drawing conclusions from missing data, calling it “a salient reminder not to jump to conclusions.”
