Aston Villa to pay £125,000 fine—and the reason will surprise you
Liam Garcia
Dailysports's expert
The English Premier League always finds new reasons to fine clubs. Manchester City recently paid a fee to the league for delayed kick-offs, and now it's Aston Villa's turn to face punishment—this time, for a rather unusual reason.
Details: The Villans will pay a £125,000 fine because… their ball assistants repeatedly handed spare balls to Villa players before corners and free kicks, which violates league regulations. Additionally, the assistants stationed behind the goal Villa was attacking had more balls at their disposal than permitted, and passed them to Unai Emery’s players before set pieces.
Altogether, there were five breaches of the Multiball system, which the club has admitted and will pay the fine for. The club is also banned from using the system in its first three home matches of the new season.
Reminder: The Multiball system in the Premier League is a regulation designed to speed up restarts by having spare balls and assistants positioned around the pitch perimeter to quickly supply players.
There are strict rules about how many balls can be in certain zones and when they may be handed out, ensuring both teams are on equal footing and the home side doesn’t gain an unfair advantage.
