England striker Ivan Toney has pleaded not guilty to a charge of assaulting a man at a Soho nightclub, setting up a Crown Court trial that will keep one of the country's best-known footballers in the headlines for months to come.
The 30-year-old appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, where he stood in the dock to confirm his name and age before formally denying a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The allegation relates to an incident at a nightclub on Wardour Street in central London on 6 December last year, in which Toney is accused of headbutting and punching Saber Da Silva. He was charged on 31 July following a Metropolitan Police investigation.
Although the district judge said the case was suitable to be heard in the magistrates' court, Toney elected for a trial before a judge and jury at the Crown Court, a right available to defendants in England for this category of offence. He was granted unconditional bail, with the judge warning that failure to appear at his next hearing could result in an arrest warrant. That hearing is set for 29 October at Southwark Crown Court, where the trial itself will later be scheduled.
Toney's representatives issued a statement when news of the criminal case broke: Ivan acknowledges the charge and although he is naturally shocked, he looks forward to being given the opportunity to clear his name in court. Toney denies the allegation and maintains he committed no unlawful violence.
Toney has been one of English football's most prominent strikers in recent years. He began his career with his hometown club Northampton Town before spells with Newcastle United, Wigan Athletic and Peterborough United. He joined Brentford in 2020, scoring 72 goals across four seasons and firing the club to promotion to the Premier League for the first time in its history. In 2024 he made a surprise £40 million move to the Saudi Pro League club Al-Ahli.
He has won 10 England caps and scored once for his country, and was part of the England squad at this summer's World Cup. However, he missed out on the latest England squad for the ongoing Nations League fixtures, with the criminal case inevitably raising questions about his international future.
The case is the latest in a series of off-field controversies to touch the England camp. Toney previously served an eight-month ban from football in 2023 for breaching betting rules, a suspension that kept him out of the game for most of that year. His return to form after the ban had been seen as a redemption story; the nightclub charge has put that narrative back under strain. Al-Ahli has not commented publicly on the proceedings.