Southampton head coach, Tonda Eckert, has been handed a suspended six-week touchline ban and fined £28,000 by the Football Association over his involvement in the club’s spying scandal.
The sanction means Eckert will not immediately serve a touchline suspension, with the six-week ban suspended until the end of the 2027-28 season, according to The Athletic.
The FA had charged the Southampton manager with bringing the game into disrepute in July following revelations that opposition training sessions had been secretly filmed during the previous campaign.
The suspended ban will be activated if Eckert breaches rules relating to the observation of other clubs’ training sessions.
He is therefore eligible to lead Southampton when they host Portsmouth at St Mary’s Stadium on Sunday.
The FA punishment comes after the English Football League imposed separate sanctions on Southampton over the spying allegations.
The club was expelled from last season’s Championship play-offs after admitting to spying on Middlesbrough, Oxford United and Ipswich Town, while they were also handed a four-point deduction in the current campaign.
An independent commission previously found that Eckert had organised a “contrived and determined plan” to gather information on opponents.
Analyst intern Will Salt, who was caught recording Middlesbrough’s training session in May, has since been offered a permanent role at Southampton’s academy.
Southampton owner Dragan Solak welcomed the FA decision while defending Eckert and criticising the EFL’s handling of the matter.
“I’m pleased that the independent panel has come to a decision and that we have an outcome. We have already suffered enough, and we appreciate the panel’s recognition of that. We are confident the manager has learned from this matter, and a suspended sentence allows him to continue in his role. I firmly believe that Tonda is one of Europe’s most exciting young coaches, and with this distraction removed, I am confident he can lead the team to a successful season. I’d like to thank our fans for standing by us and showing the team so much support during a time when we have needed them more than ever. The FA process has been a positive experience. Tonda has been given the opportunity to be open and honest with the panel, and the panel has been able to see that he is simply a good person who made poor decisions. The same cannot be said for the EFL process, and the way they have subsequently treated us is not something we will forget. However, now is the time to look forward to what I believe will be a great future for our club.”
Eckert must now guide Southampton through the remainder of the campaign with the suspended sanction hanging over him.
The club, currently 13th after the four-point deduction, will face Portsmouth on Sunday as they look to move on from the controversy.
