The Nigerian international will miss the beginning of the next Serie A season due to the ban, which will last from August 18 until October 19, 2025.

Football Italia claims that the punishment is the result of illegal behavior connected to questionable betting activity that was discovered during Udinese’s 2-1 victory over Lazio at the Dacia Arena on March 11, 2024.

A flurry of odd wagers focused on Okoye getting a yellow card after he was penalized for time-wasting in the 64th minute.

Red flags were raised when investigators discovered that wagers made at odds of 8/1 produced wins of almost €120,000, primarily from the Udine region. In June 2025, Okoye and three friends were sent to the disciplinary commission and placed under investigation.

At first, there were concerns that the 25-year-old might be suspended for four years for sporting fraud, but the authorities decided to charge him with illegal betting instead, and he was found guilty.

After leaving Watford to join Udinese in the summer of 2023, Okoye has made multiple appearances for the team and earned 18 caps for Nigeria. Instead of recruiting a new goalkeeper, Udinese is anticipated to rely on Razvan Sava as their first choice during his ban.

Okoye will be suspended for six Serie A games before making his comeback on October 19, starting with Udinese’s Coppa Italia encounter against Carrarese on August 18.