Ivan Toney Pleads Not Guilty as Trial Is Set for June 2028, Days Into Euro 2028

Ivan Toney pleaded not guilty at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and the provisional trial date the judge set lands right in the middle of England’s home European Championship. Judge Christopher Hehir fixed June 12, 2028, for the trial, three days after Euro 2028 kicks off in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Toney was released on unconditional bail after a hearing that lasted barely five minutes.

What happened in court on Thursday?

The plea itself took almost no time. Toney arrived at Southwark Crown Court at around 9.10am wearing black sunglasses, grey trousers and a button-up jacket over a shirt and tie, Sky Sports reports, and formally entered a not guilty plea to one charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The hearing lasted about five minutes, and he left on unconditional bail. Nothing about the substance of the case was argued. The only decision of consequence was the date, and the judge knew it needed an apology before he gave it.

What is Toney accused of doing?

He is accused of headbutting and punching Saber Da Silva during a confrontation at a nightclub in Wardour Street in central London on December 6, 2025. An earlier hearing was told the alleged assault happened at the 100 Wardour Street club, where the two men squared up to each other before Toney allegedly lunged forward and headbutted the complainant, followed by a few punches, Sky Sports reports. The charge was announced in late July after a Metropolitan Police investigation. Toney denies the charge, and the allegation remains unproven until the trial.

Why is the trial date the real story?

Because June 12, 2028, is not a neutral date on the football calendar. Euro 2028 runs from June 9 to July 9, 2028, the Associated Press reports, which means Toney’s trial would open three days into a tournament England co-hosts. That collision turns a routine case-management decision into a question about his international career: whether he can be picked, whether he would be available, and whether the Football Association would want the distraction at all. It also gives the case a fixed point on the horizon. For the next 20 months, every England squad announcement will be read against a court date.

Why does Toney have to wait until 2028?

Because the courts told him there is no earlier room. Judge Hehir apologised to Toney about the delay in open court, saying the crown courts are operating under a great deal of pressure and face a massive backlog of work for various reasons, Sky Sports reports. The date is provisional, so it can still move, but the judge’s apology is itself part of the story: a high-profile defendant being told, on the record, that the system cannot hear his case for 20 months. Court backlogs are usually an abstract statistic. Here one has a name, a face and a tournament attached to it.

What does this mean for Toney’s England place?

It leaves it genuinely uncertain, and the uncertainty started before Thursday. Toney has played 10 times for England and scored once, and he represented England at the World Cup last summer, the Associated Press reports. But he was not selected for the most recent Nations League fixtures in September and October, so his place in the squad was already under pressure on footballing grounds. The trial date adds a second, non-footballing question to every future selection: not whether he is good enough, but whether picking him is worth the noise. No statement from Toney, Al-Ahli or the England setup on the trial date has been reported.

Where does Toney’s career stand now?

At a remove from the English game, which changes the stakes. Toney joined Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia in 2024 after four years at Brentford, where Sky Sports notes he scored 72 goals, and earlier spells at Northampton, Newcastle and Peterborough. He does not depend on an English club for his living, and he does not need an England call-up to keep his career going. That distance cuts both ways: it makes him easier to leave out of squads, and it means the trial, rather than his club form, is now the main thing tying him to the English news cycle. The case will return to Southwark Crown Court in June 2028, unless the provisional date moves. Until then, the plea is entered, the bail is unconditional, and the calendar does the talking.

This is the latest star-player controversy to reach a courtroom rather than a disciplinary panel, a different kind of case from the on-field flashpoints that usually fill this desk, from Vinicius Junior’s hair-pull red card and looming ban to Cucurella handing the referee his dropped red card. It also sits apart from the week’s other off-field saga, Kylian Mbappe’s apology row and the calls for him to move on, because Toney’s case will be decided by a judge, not by sponsors or federations. And it is a reminder of how quickly a player’s story can change: Ronaldo’s public break with his national coach was a statement, while Toney’s was a five-minute hearing with a two-year wait attached. The paper-plane protest that got a Rayo Vallecano homecoming abandoned showed how fast football moves on from a disruption. This one will not move on. It has a date.