The Football Association has charged former Premier League referee David Coote for remarks he made regarding former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp in a social media video leak.
After the clip revealed the 42-year-old making disparaging remarks about the German and Liverpool, he was suspended in November 2024.
After a “thorough investigation” into his behaviour, Coote was fired a month later by Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the body that oversees referees in the Premier League.
Coote is currently facing charges from the FA under regulation E3.1, which claims he behaved improperly and/or used derogatory or abusive language.\
It says reference to Klopp’s nationality in the video constituted an “aggravated” breach.
Despite allegations that the referee had talked about giving a player a yellow card before a game, Coote has been cleared of any gambling misbehavior.
Coote from Nottinghamshire had called the accusations of gaming impropriety “false and defamatory” and rejected them.
Uefa banned Coote in February from officiating in European play until June 30, 2026.
In November, a video of Coote sniffing a white drug while on duty at Uefa-hosted Euro 2024 surfaced.
In January, Coote came out as gay, a fact he had concealed throughout his career out of fear of being mistreated.
In an interview, he acknowledged that he had established a drug habit but that he had overcome it with the help of therapy.