Everton Starlet Fined for Betting… But Avoids Ban from Football

An Everton academy graduate has been fined £5,000 for placing 61 bets on football games… but has avoided an outright ban from playing.

Martin Sherif was found guilty of having ‘caused, permitted or enabled’ the placement of the wagers, which is a breach of Football Association rules.

The Dutch youth international admitted that he was the owner of the bookmaker accounts and that he had funded them, but denied that he had personally placed the bets himself – a mitigation accepted by the independent regulatory commission, although they concluded that it was ‘hard to accept’ that Sherif didn’t know about them.

More Than 60 Bets Placed

The 20-year-old is yet to make the breakthrough into the first team at Everton, who he joined seven years ago from his native Netherlands.

But he has trained with the first team squad thanks to his exploits in the youth ranks, and enjoyed two loan spells in League One last term with Rotherham United and Port Vale; scoring for both.

However, as his career on the pitch was thriving, off it Sherif was allowing bets to be placed on football games from his accounts. Investigators confirming that 61 wagers were struck between November 2024 and February 2026 for a total stake of nearly £2,000. He was charged with the offences back in August.

Investigators accepted that Sherif’s willingness to assist with their inquiries – and his ‘genuine remorse’ – were enough to ensure that a fine, rather than a suspension, was the appropriate punishment. It was also revealed that he personally had not benefited financially from any of the winning bets.

A statement from the Football Association reads: “Martin Sherif of Everton FC has been fined £5,000 for breaching The FA’s betting rules. The Commission considered that Mr Sherif’s conduct did not warrant a sporting sanction.”

Star Names Banned for Betting

Others found guilty of betting offences have previously faced larger fines and bans from the sport.

Wagering on football is a strict contravention of both Premier League and EFL rules, with ‘participants’ banned from betting on any football match that takes place anywhere around the globe – whether they are personally involved in it or not.

The prohibition also extends to betting on any football related matters, such as player transfers or managerial sackings. Individuals inside the professional game can also be guilty of feeding ‘inside information’ to friends and family, with sanctions ranging from fines to bans available to the Football Association.

Toney, Trippier and Co

Both current and former England internationals have found themselves in a similar situation. Ivan Toney placed 232 bets and was banned from football for eight months; the seriousness of his punishment due largely to the fact that he had wagered on matches in which own team was playing… including betting on them to lose on seven occasions.

Former England and Newcastle United man Kieran Trippier was banned for ten weeks and fined £70,000 in 2020 after being found guilty of four different betting rule breaches. He’s one of the few elite players to be sanctioned for the ‘inside information’ rule E8(1)(b), which states:

“Where a participant provides to any other person any information relating to football which the participant has obtained by virtue of his or her position within the game, and which is not publicly available at that time, the participant shall be in breach of this rule where any of that information is used by that other person for, or in relation to, betting.”

And Joey Barton, who won a solitary cap for England, effectively had his career ended by an 18-month ban after he was found to have placed more than 1,200 bets on games between March 2006 and May 2016.