Sport's longest-ever bans with Man Utd star suspended from football for 30 YEARS
Newcastle United midfielder Sandro Tonali is facing a three-year ban from football for betting offences - and the Italian is hoping to avoid the fate of others across sport
Newcastle have been thrown into the eye of a storm following revelations about star midfielder Sandro Tonali, who is facing a considerable ban from football.
Tonali is being investigated alongside Aston Villa’s Nicolo Zaniolo and Juventus’ Nicolo Fagioli in Italy over allegations of illegal betting. If found guilty, he could be handed a three-year ban after admitting he had placed a number of bets on Milan to win in games that he was both involved in and absent from.
Article 26 of FIFA’s code says players found to have breached gambling rules can be handed a maximum suspension of 36 months. Tonali is cooperating with the Italian Federation in Turin and now awaits his punishment.
If he is handed a ban then Tonali will join a long list of sportspeople who have been slapped with serious punishments for breaking rules. Here Mirror Sport takes a look at some of the most noteworthy examples.
Simona Halep
The Former world No.1 was given a four-year ban from tennis for doping breaches in September. Halep tested positive for the prohibited anti-anaemia drug Roxadustat, which increases haemoglobin and red blood cell count, after last year's US Open.
Halep had argued that a tainted supplement was the cause of the positive test and has vowed to try and clear her name. But for the time being the Romanian star, who won the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019, remains banned from competing.
Lou Vincent
New Zealand batter Vincent was given a life ban from playing cricket at any level, entering any cricket ground, or coaching the game in a professional capacity in July 2014 after admitting match-fixing offences. In an open letter, he admitted to his “dark secret”, which had “shamed” himself, his country and the sport.
After the ban Vincent, 44, became a builder in the small town of Raglan in New Zealand. He has admitted regret for getting sucked into the "honey trap" of fixing.
Enoch West
Way back in 1915, West, four other Manchester United players and three Liverpool players were banned for life after being convicted of match-fixing. Many of the others involved went off to fight in the First World War and saw their bans rescinded upon their return.
But West refused to accept the condition and by the time his ban was lifted in 1945, had been suspended for 30 years – the longest in Football Association history. He was 59 when the ban expired, depriving United of a reliable goalscorer.
Lance Armstrong
Sport’s most famous cheat. Armstrong was banned for life from cycling and saw all his remarkable results scrubbed from history for doping offences during the sport’s murky era.
The American remarkably won the Tour de France on seven consecutive occasions from 1999 to 2005 after recovering from testicular cancer. His story saw him become one of the world’s most famous athletes before his downfall.
Ben Johnson
Unfortunately, there have been many instances of sprinters being banned for doping offences over the years. Johnson is perhaps the most infamous of the lot. Johnson was a true star of athletics, breaking the 100-metre and 60-metre world records and winning the 100m gold at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
He was later banned and stripped of his medals and records for doping offences. After the ban expired, the Canadian made a comeback in 1991, only to be found guilty of doping again and banned for life in 1993.
Hansie Cronje
Cronje was a South African hero – the Test cricket captain and figure of idolisation across the country due to his perceived impeccable approach to leadership. But his legacy today is one of tragedy, match-fixing, downfall and an early death.
He was banned for life from cricket for match-fixing in 2000 and disgraced for his part in a conspiracy, which also corrupted his young teammates Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams. Two years later he died in a plane crash, aged just 32.
Muhammad Ali
Ali is a legend of boxing, but he was actually prevented from fighting for four years during his career. He was denied a licence after refusing to be conscripted into the US Army to fight in Vietnam, claiming his religious beliefs forbade him from taking part.
While he became one of the figureheads of the anti-war movement in the United States, his decision affected his career. He later had his five-year prison sentence overturned, but the four-year battle robbed him of four years inside the ring in his youth.
Liang Wenbo & Li Hang
Snooker was rocked earlier this year after a widespread match-fixing ring was uncovered in China. Liang Wenbo and Li Hang were both handed lifetime bans from the sport for their part in the conspiracy.
Eight other Chinese players were suspended, but Wenbo and Hang were the ringleaders, having been found to have fixed matches, persuaded or encouraged other players to fix matches and bet on matches.
