
Former Premier League referee David Coote has been charged with making an indecent video of a child.
The ex-official, aged 43 and from Collingham, is due to appear at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
The charge of making an indecent image of a child refers to activities such as downloading, sharing or saving abuse photos or videos.
The allegation relates to a video recovered by officers from Nottinghamshire Police in February, the force said.
Coote was charged on August 12 and is on conditional bail.
Your ultimate guide to the football season
Metro’s football newsletter: In The Mixer. Exclusive analysis, FPL tips and transfer talk sent straight to your inbox every Friday – sign up, it’s an open goal.
Coote was sacked by Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) in December, after a video of abusive comments he had made about former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp in 2020 came to light.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
He was also banned by European football’s governing body UEFA until June 30, 2026 after a different video emerged of him snorting a white powder through a bank note while in Germany for Euro 2024.
In January, Coote came out as gay and said a lifelong struggle to hide his sexuality had contributed to the rant about Klopp and his apparent drug use.
In August 2025 he was also given an eight-week suspension by the Football Association over the Klopp footage.
A spokesperson for Coote declined to comment when contacted by the PA news agency on Wednesday.