'I went to a factory in Newcastle because gambling is very widespread. People told me, several months after the ban, “I stopped betting because of what happened to you”': Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali reveals how he rehabilitated from gambling

Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali has revealed that he visited a factory in the North East to get a fresh perspective on gambling following his ban from football, while he also refused to use his mobile phone for six months during his rehabilitation.

The Italian Football Federation banned Tonali from football for 10 months in October 2023 for breaching the nation's betting regulations, before ordering him to take part in a rehabilitation programme for another eight months after the ban.

This programme entails him returning to Italy on at least 16 different occasions to talk to players at all levels of the game to dicuss the impacts of gambling and also to visit addiction clinics. Tonali didn't stop there, though, with the 24-year-old also visiting a factory in Newcastle to speak to workers about the dangers gambling poses on individuals.

Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali opens up on betting ban

“In Newcastle, I went to a factory that produces covers for gas pipes in the ocean," Tonali told Italian publication Repubblica. "I went there because gambling is very widespread in England.

"There were those who told me, several months after the disqualification, ' stopped betting because of what happened to you'. They had been compulsive gamblers for years.

“An Italian told me that an employee earns £2k a month, but sometimes needs to work overtime to support his family. He throws too much money away on gambling.”

Tonali returned to action for Newcastle in August 2024, during a third round League Cup match against Nottingham Forest. The Italian featured in 61 minutes of the match, and has since gone onto make a further 29 appearances in all competitions for the Magpies this term.

He reveals that he has completely changed his relationship with his phone as a result of the ban, while also highlighting how his Newcastle team-mates helped him to come out the other side of a difficult period.

“I haven’t had [my phone] for six months in the last year," Tonali said. |Of course I felt a sense of freedom, the sensation of being okay even without it. “Before, I couldn’t go from room to room, today I take it when I leave the house and leave it when I come back. I only take it back if mum, dad or a family member calls me.

“In the first two months I was detached from everyone, then returning to life, training every day without having the match, I realised that I was paying for what I had done.

"My teammates and coach have always kept me positive, as have the staff and management. The Newcastle fans and the opposing fans have never judged me. Here they respect everyone’s problems, they don’t push things too far and they try to help.”