Official FA statement on Paquetá inquiry outcome | Update

An official statement on the outcome of Lucas Paqueta’s hearing before the FA Independent Tribunal could be delayed until the end of the week.

Although the outcome was provided to Paqueta’s legal team and representatives last Friday, we may have to wait days for an official confirmation.

The FA publishes ‘written reasons’ on their website following disciplinary cases such as these, but Paqueta’s team will be given up to a week to give feedback on the document before publication.

It will be reviewed for accuracy, but also both sides can ask for redactions to protect indivduals or personal information.

Once Paqueta’s legal team provides feedback to the Tribunal, the publication of the written reasons can be made public.

The written reasons are usually quite detailed and run on for many pages, and in this case, could be more than one hundred.

Earlier this month, the FA published a 35-page written reasons for Ryan Bowman, who was found guilty of breaching gambling regulations. He admitted to placing 6,397 bets between June 2022 and September 2023. An independent commission’s written reasons detailed that 108 of those bets involved matches of Exeter City while he played for them, and 243 involved Shrewsbury Town while he was at the club.  He was banned from football for three and a half years.

Paqueta’s ‘written reasons’, when published, will follow the same format with a background section, the FA charge, the evidence and exhibits in detail, sanction guidelines and the sanction itself or lack of sanction in this case.