Biggest fines ever given to players by the English FA, ft Keane, Van Dijk & Terry | OneFootball

Highlights

GIVEMESPORT VIDEO OF THE DAY

Pause

Unmute

Current Time 0:00

/

Duration 2:40

Loaded: 2.76%

Virgil van Dijk has received further punishment after being sent off in Liverpool's dramatic victory against Newcastle United in August. The Dutch defender received his marching orders in the first-half at St James' Park after taking down Alexander Isak just outside the penalty area.

The Liverpool defender did not take the decision well and berated referee John Brooks after he was shown a red card, while he was also seen swearing at the fourth official as he left the pitch. Van Dijk has already served his automatic one-match ban but he has now been handed an additional game suspension and a hefty fine by the English FA.

An FA statement read, per ESPN: "Virgil van Dijk has been suspended for one match and fined £100,000 for breaching FA Rule E3.1 during Liverpool's Premier League fixture against Newcastle United on Sunday 27 August. The defender admitted that he acted in an improper manner and used abusive and insulting words towards a match official after being sent off in the 29th minute, and the sanctions were subsequently imposed by an independent Regulatory Commission. Full written reasons for this case will be published in due course."

The biggest fines given by the FA to players in Premier League history

Van Dijk's hefty fine got us thinking: what are the largest fines given to players in Premier League history? We've looked through the archives and listed players that received hefty fines from the FA and why. Only two players have been fined more than the Liverpool star...

13 Eric Cantona - £30,000

Surely everyone is familiar with this moment. After being abused by a Crystal Palace fan in a Premier League match in 1995, Cantona lashed out and kung-fu kicked him in retaliation. Cantona was given a red card and the FA later handed him a £30,000 fine and an eight-month ban.

The Frenchman, though, does not regret his actions. Cantona said on The United Way, per the Mirror: "I have been insulted thousands of times and have never reacted, but sometimes you are fragile. I have one regret - I would have loved to have kicked him even harder. I was banned for nine months. They wanted me to be an example."

12 Luis Suarez - £40,000

Suarez was charged by the FA of racially abusing Patrice Evra in 2011. An FA statement said, per the Independent: “The FA has today charged Liverpool’s Luis Suarez following an incident that occurred during the Liverpool versus Manchester United fixture at Anfield on October 15, 2011. It is alleged that Suarez used abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour towards Manchester United’s Patrice Evra contrary to FA rules. It is further alleged that this included a reference to the ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race of Patrice Evra.”

He was later handed an eight-match ban and a £40,000 fine by the FA after being found guilty.

11 Patrick Vieira - £45,000

After being sent off in a match for Arsenal against West Ham back in 1999, Vieira was accused of spitting on Neil Ruddock and was then involved in an incident with a police officer in the tunnel. He was subsequently given a six-match ban and a then-record £45,000 fine.

Arsene Wenger said about the ban, per the Independent: "It is very severe, very hard - especially for what is said to have happened in the tunnel. My inclination is to appeal against that. I don't know if the FA could have been put under pressure to do him by all the media focus on the incident - I hope not. I don't say he's been made a scapegoat but I hope the same sort of spirit will be applied to every player in the League who does something similar. Spitting, I am told, is an offence of violent conduct, a mental one not a physical one and you can expect punishment for that. But while I don't say that nothing at all happened in the tunnel I believe two matches suspended and a huge fine for that is very harsh."

10 Rio Ferdinand - £45,000

Ferdinand has been fined by the FA on multiple occasions for comments made on social media. In 2012, he was given a £45,000 fine after appearing to endorse a tweet by another user which described Ashley Cole as a 'choc ice'. Two years later, he was handed a three-match ban and a £25,000 fine by the FA after describing a Twitter user's mother as a 'sket'.

9 Ivan Toney - £50,000

In 2023, Toney was given an eight-month ban from all footballing activity after being found guilty of breaking FA rules regarding betting. He was also given a fine of £50,000. Speaking on the Diary of a CEO podcast, Toney said, per the Independent: “Personally, I feel like it was a bit of a questionable time when they decided to bring it all out, and then when they actually dealt with the situation at the end of the season, I felt like ‘why did you bring it out then?’

“Yes I’m banned now, but the biggest punishment was me missing out of the World Cup, personally. I felt more hurt and down around the time, like someone was out to get me at the time to stop me playing for England – in my head that’s how I saw it at the time: they want to punish me for this, playing for England at the World Cup – it’s everyone’s dream to play at the World Cup – and then further down the line ban me as well. It’s like a double hit.”

8 Benoit Assou-Ekotto - £50,000

In 2014, Assou-Ekotto was slapped with a three-game ban by the Football Association and handed a £50,000 fine for tweeting his support for Nicolas Anelka following his controversial 'quenelle' celebration during a Premier League match. He posted in French, per ESPN: "I congratulate you on the beautiful quenelle."

7 Aleksandar Mitrović - £75,000

The Serbian striker completely lost it after Willian and Marco Silva's quick-fire red cards in an FA Cup clash between Fulham and Manchester United at Old Trafford. He was shown a straight red card himsef by Chris Kavanagh after he grabbed the referee by the arm. After admitting his behaviour and language was improper, the FA gave him an eight-match ban and £75,000 fine.

6 Joey Barton - £75,000

Barton has been in trouble with the FA on numerous occasions. In 2017, after admitting to placing 1,260 football-related bets between 26 March 2006 and 13 May 2016, he was handed a lengthy ban and £30,000 fine. Five years prior, he was given a 12-match ban and £75,000 fine after infamously losing his head in the Premier League clash between Queens Park Rangers and Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

5 Nicholas Anelka - £80,000

Anelka was banned for five matches by the FA and fined £80,000 for the 'quenelle' gesture that he performed after scoring for West Brom against West Ham in 2013. Anelka was suspended by the club and had his contract terminated a few months later.

4 Ashley Cole - £90,000

In 2012, Cole took to social media to brand the FA 'a bunch of t****'. The tweet came after the FA published its written reasons for an independent commission finding John Terry guilty of insulting Anton Ferdinand. In the reasons, Cole's statement supporting Terry's version of events was questioned by the commission.

Cole later apologised for his comment. He said, per the Independent: "I had just finished training and saw the captions on the TV screens in the treatment rooms about what was said in the FA Commission ruling about me. I was really upset and tweeted my feelings in the heat of the moment. I apologise unreservedly for my comment about the FA."

3 Virgil van Dijk - £100,000

Van Dijk took to social media after being given a £100,000 for comments made to the officials after being sent off against Newcastle. He wrote, per the Mirror: "Following the announcement today I'd just like to make clear I totally accept the panel's decision. It was the first red card of my Liverpool career and I let my frustrations get the better of me in an intense and heated moment. I apologised immediately after the game to the match officials and take full responsibilty. Time to move forward now. I will continue supporting the team in every way I can."

2 Roy Keane - £150,000

Roy Keane was given a red card following an awful challenge on Alf Inge Haaland in the Manchester derby April 2001. He was originally given a three-match ban and a £5,000 fine by the FA. A year later, he was given a further five-match ban and handed a £150,000 fine by the FA after admitting in his autobiography that he deliberately set out to injure the Norwegian.

1 John Terry - £220,000

The FA found John Terry guilty of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand in a match between Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers in 2012. He was banned for four domestic matches and given a record £220,000 fine by England's governing body. Terry said he was 'disappointed' with the verdict but chose not to appeal the ban.

He said, per Reuters: “After careful consideration, I have decided not to appeal against the FA judgment. I want to take this opportunity to apologise to everyone for the language I used in the game against Queens Park Rangers last October. Although I’m disappointed with the FA judgment, I accept that the language I used, regardless of the context, is not acceptable on the football field or indeed in any walk of life."