Disgraced referee David Coote has been banned from officiating in any UEFA game until the end of June 2026 after being filmed snorting cocaine during Euro 2024.
Coote was sacked by the Premier League’s refereeing body PGMOL in December following the release of a video in which he used derogatory language to describe Liverpool and their former boss Jurgen Klopp.
A second video then showed Coote snorting a white powder through a bank note which he later admitted was the drug.
The act was alleged to have taken place at a UEFA hotel, a day after Coote was on VAR duty for the quarter-final between France and Portugal.
A UEFA disciplinary release today confirmed his sanction.
It said he had “violated the basic rules of decent conduct’ and ‘brought the sport of football, and UEFA in particular, into disrepute’ and banned him for 16 months.
Coote blames stress of hiding sexuality
Coote later explained his actions had been caused by the stress of concealing his homosexuality.
He told The Sun, the paper that had earlier exposed him: “He said: “My sexuality isn’t the only reason that led me to be in that position. But I’m not telling an authentic story if I don’t say that I’m gay and that I’ve had real struggles with hiding that.
“I hid my emotions as a young ref and I hid my sexuality as well – a good quality as a referee but a terrible quality as a human being. And that’s led me to a whole course of behaviours.”
On the video that saw him calling Klopp a c***, he said: “I recognise that they [his remarks] fell well short of standards that are expected of a top-level referee and I deeply regret saying what I said. The comments are not reflective of my views of any of the individuals concerned or my wider views in general.”
