Pogba has tough fight against 4‑year ban judging by doping cases in football for other stars

The four‐year ban imposed on Paul Pogba — a 2018 World Cup winner with France and once the most expensive player in soccer history — in a doping case that could end his career has shocked soccer.

It was also entirely in line with bans in similar recent cases in soccer, including two cases pros‐ ecuted by FIFA from qualifying games for the 2022 World Cup and a UEFA case detailed on Fri‐ day by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Top‐ranked athletes in other sports, including Grand Slam tennis champion Simona Halep and Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, also have their careers on hold while their lawyers chal‐ lenge four‐year bans in doping cases.

Four years has been routine since 2015 when the world anti‐ doping code was updated. Since then, the code also lets bans be reduced or overturned if athletes can show they were not at fault or negligent for a positive test, or were contaminated.

Pogba will be the latest case going to appeal at CAS, to chal‐ lenge his ban imposed on Thurs‐ day by an Italian sports tribunal for a positive test for DHEA, a steroid precursor.

The court in Lausanne, Switzer‐ land, published a detailed ruling in the doping case of an interna‐ tional soccer player that helps show the narrow path to a re‐ duced ban.

A four‐year ban was imposed by UEFA on Bulgaria winger Georgi Yomov, who tested posi‐ tive for an anabolic steroid at a Europa Conference League game in July 2022 when aged 25.

Yomov's argument was to blame his brother, who was said to have crushed steroid pills into smoothies made in a blender they both used at their parents' home. With no proof to back the theory, and other inconsistencies in evidence noted by the CAS judges, the appeal failed.

The three judges were split 2‐1 and noted a four‐year ban for Yomov "may be said to be harsh," the 33‐page court ruling said.

In a different soccer doping case at CAS, judges were swayed by parts of a player's argument of contamination by an anabolic steroid and cut his UEFA ban to two years.

Dinamo Zagreb player Arijan Ademi tested positive after a Champions League win over Ar‐ senal and was able to persuade judges he had no intent to dope. Ademi could show he checked with team doctors about the sup‐ plement he used.

Few details of Pogba's case have been confirmed officially and the Italian tribunal judges could take another month to give him their detailed reasons.

"When I am free of legal re‐ strictions the full story will be‐ come clear, but I have never knowingly or deliberately taken any supplements that violate anti‐doping regulations," the France midfielder wrote on Thursday on his Instagram ac‐ count.

Pogba’s appeal to CAS could take at least several months to be heard and longer to reach a ver‐ dict.