Man City defender Martin Demichelis has been charged by the FA for breaching rules in relation to the Association's betting code of conduct. The Argentine centre back is alleged to have broken the rules surrounding professional footballers betting on football matches on twelve occasions between the 22nd of January and the 28 of January.
In a brief statement, the FA outlined the charge that the 35 year old faces.
Manchester City’s Martin Demichelis has been charged for misconduct in relation to betting.
It is alleged the player committed 12 breaches of FA Rule E8 concerning football matches between 22 January 2016 and 28 January 2016.
He has until 5pm on 5 April 2016 to respond to the charge.
Given the fact that Demichelis has been a liability at times this season, quite a few people have made the same joke this morning, particularly in relation to his display in the Manchester derby earlier this month.
If it later emerges that Demichelis had a flutter on the Manchester Derby it might explain a thing or two.
— Back Page Football (@bpfootball) March 30, 2016
Martín Demichelis charged with betting offences – #MCFC appeal asking for Manchester derby to be taken into account pic.twitter.com/1ib1wbFOVe
— Loaded (@loadedonline) March 30, 2016
Does this explain his manc derby performance? >> Martin Demichelis: Man City defender charged for betting offences https://t.co/mnYFADtLxX
— Dan (@iptvdan) March 30, 2016
Would be funny if someone made a joke about Demichelis backing Rashford to score pic.twitter.com/1oq6cwNWMz
— harryfre (@harryfremantle) March 30, 2016
We could go on but you get the point.
It must be said that, given the dates in question, there's nothing to suggest that Demichelis did decide to have a flutter on the Manchester derby. He did play two games for City during the dates in question, a 2-2 draw with West Ham and a 3-1 League Cup win over Everton, however there is no suggestion of match-fixing or of Demichelis having bet on any game that he was personally involved in.
