By: Gregoire Beda
After a lucrative appeal, French midfielder Paul Pogba doping ban has been reduced to 18 months.
According to Court of Arbitration for Sport Director General Matthieu Reeb, 31-year old Pogba will receive credit for time served as of September 2023, which will allow him to return to the pitch March 2025. Currently in his second stint with Juventus, Pogba has a contract with Juventus until June 2026.
Following his four year sentencing, the 2018 World Cup champion Pogba was determined to appeal the sentence, “As a professional athlete I would never do anything to enhance my performance by using banned substances and have never disrespected or cheated fellow athletes and supporters of any of the teams I have played for, or against. As a consequence of the decision announced today I will appeal this before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.”
Embed from Getty ImagesPogba tested positive for DHEA – a banned substance that raises levels of testosterone.
The drug test was performed after Juve’s 3-0 season-opening victory in Serie A at Udinese on Aug. 20, 2023.
The tribunal said it had detected prohibited “non-endogenous testosterone metabolites”, adding that the results were “consistent with the exogenous (external) origin of the target compounds”, Reuters reported.
