Referee David Coote given eight-week suspension over abusive words to Jurgen Klopp
David Coote was charged by the Football Association in June 2025 after comments first emerged in a video circulating on social media last November.
In the video, recorded in July 2020, the 42-year-old calls Klopp a 'German ****' and 'f***ing arrogant'. He is also heard to say it had been 's***' to be fourth official at a Liverpool match in the summer of 2020.
Coote was suspended from his role, before he was sacked in December 2024.
His misconduct was defined as an aggravated breach under the FA's rules because there was a reference to Klopp's nationality.
Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) said his position had become 'untenable' when confirming his dismissal.
The FA said he had subsequently admitted the charge.
The governing body said he would face no further action in regard to separate allegations of gambling misconduct, which he had denied.
Coote was also banned by European football's governing body UEFA in February until 30 June 2026 after a different video emerged of him snorting a white powder through a bank note while in Germany for last summer's Euros.
In January, he came out as gay in an interview with The Sun and said that a lifelong struggle to hide his sexuality had contributed to the rant about Klopp, and to his drug use.
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.'
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