Paqueta could sue FA after spot-fixing acquittal

The case led to Paquetas £80m move to Manchester City from West Ham being called off

West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta is considering suing the Football Association after he was cleared of spot-fixing.

Sources close to the 28-year-old have told BBC Sport that the players lawyers are currently "considering all options".

The Brazilian was charged by the FA in May 2024 for allegedly getting booked deliberately for the "improper purpose of affecting the betting market".

Paqueta was cleared on four counts of supposed spot-fixing by an independent commission in July 2025.

Written reasons detailing the commissions findings were published on Wednesday, calling into question the FAs decision not to call in independent expertise on the key area of betting data.

Paquetas legal team is now analysing the case and considering all options in response, including suing the FA.

The FAs investigation into Paqueta began in August 2023 - nine months before the Brazilian was eventually charged.

The announcement of the investigation led to the collapse of the Brazilians £80m move to Manchester City.

The commission noted that both Paqueta and West Ham would have "received substantial sums running into the tens of millions of pounds" and that "both the player and West Ham reserve all of their rights in that regard".

The FA, which has confirmed it will not be appealing against the decision, has been contacted for comment.

A 314-page document prepared by Sports Resolutions - an independent and not-for-profit dispute resolution service - provided detail of the case.

A range of information - from former West Ham manager David Moyes views on the yellow cards to conversations Paquetas hairdresser mother Cristiane had in a salon back in Brazil - is covered by the commissions written findings.

The FA claimed 542 bets totalling £46,758.83 were staked by 253 different bettors with a collective return of £213,703.81, reflecting a net profit of £166,944.98.

However, the commission noted that the FAs case rested "entirely on circumstantial evidence" and the decision to tender evidence on the betting data from one of its own employees, betting integrity investigator Tom Astley, was an "oddity" and "an obvious flaw".

"In the commissions view, on what the FA has accepted was the most important element of its case, it simply did not call independent expert evidence," the commission said in the written findings.

"Instead, it relies on the evidence of its integrity investigator and asks the commission to accept that he has shown the impartiality that would have been expected of an independent expert."

In his evidence, Astley said the betting on Paqueta "appears highly orchestrated".

The commission said the FAs legal counsel subsequently disagreed with Astleys assessment and was "thus abandoning, without further explanation, its case on orchestration".

The FA said 27 of the 253 bettors could be linked to the player, but 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 commission concluded that an analysis of the betting data was not "illustrative of a spot-fix" and added it was "in many respects inconsistent with a spot-fix, but consistent with alternative explanations".

Nick de Marco, part of Paquetas legal team, said: "I remain delighted for my client Lucas, cleared of all the serious charges of spot-fixing.

"The decision is understood to be the longest sports-related judgment ever issued in the world - a reflection of how serious the case was, the amount of evidence deployed in what was the biggest case in the FAs history."

Ex-West Ham manager Moyes, now in charge of Everton, and former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg gave evidence on Paquetas behalf from a performance perspective.

Moyes said he had "re-watched the yellow card incidents closely" and "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 FAs case, and felt two of the four yellow cards should not have been shown.

"Each challenge is comfortably within the sphere of things that happen multiple times every match, both individually and when taken in conjunction with each other," Clattenburg said.

The commission concluded there was "nothing in Paquetas on-field conduct" which advanced the FAs case that he had deliberately sought to be booked in any of the four games.

The commission found the FAs inability to locate one item of data from either of the players 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 Paquetas defence and indicated he was being truthful about his lack of interest in gambling.

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".