Paul Pogba free to return to football this season after doping ban reduced
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Paul Pogba's ban for doping has been reduced to 18 months from the original four years following an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Cas announced on Friday that the French football player's four-year suspension has been shortened and will now conclude in March 2025.
Pogba is still signed with Juventus and, in theory, could potentially be back on the field before the season wraps up.
Matthieu Reeb, the director general of Cas, informed Reuters that the suspension has been extended to 18 months, beginning on September 11, 2023.
The French player received a temporary suspension from Italy’s national anti-doping agency (NADO Italia) in September 2023 after he was found to have tested positive for DHEA, a prohibited substance known to increase testosterone levels.
The 31-year-old Pogba asserted that he had done nothing wrong and indicated in February that he intended to challenge the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The doping test took place following Juventus's 3-0 win over Udinese in their first Serie A match of the season in August 2023.
The panel reported that it found banned “non-endogenous testosterone metabolites” and noted that the findings indicated these substances likely came from an outside source.
Having represented France 91 times, Pogba played only eight league matches during his second spell at Juventus after transferring back from Manchester United.
He played for six seasons at Old Trafford before leaving for free in 2022.
Further contributions from Reuters.
