Blanket ban on betting ratified by the FA

The Football Association’s blanket ban on all football betting by players in the top levels of the Non-League game will come into force next season.

The proposals, which apply to players in the top eight tiers of English football, were ratified at the FA’s Annual General Meeting on Wednesday.

Players are currently banned from betting on competitions only in which their club is involved. Under the new ruling, players will be unable to pass on inside information to a third party who uses it for betting.

The new rules come into effect on 1 August and cover betting on all games around the world, as well as "football-related matters" such as transfers, managerial appointments and team selection.

Their introduction follows efforts to tackle corruption in the game and breaches of the current rules by a number of high profile players recently.

Tottenham's Andros Townsend was fined £18,000 by the FA last June and a number of other top level players have also fallen foul of the existing rules with Stoke’s Cameron Jerome and Newcastle's Dan Gosling among those found to have breached them.