Captains rally in support of Guerrero

Captains of the three countries set to play Peru at the World Cup have co-signed a letter urging Fifa to allow team captain Paolo Guerrero – currently banned for a doping offence – to play at next month’s tournament.

FIFPRO, the global group of players’ unions, released a letter yesterday signed by France’s Hugo Lloris, Denmark’s Simon Kjaer and Australia’s Mile Jedinak seeking a temporary lifting of Guerrero’s suspension.

Hours later, Guerrero met with Fifa president Gianni Infantino – though it was unclear what football’s governing body can do to change a ban imposed last week by sport’s highest court, the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Guerrero tested positive for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, but lawyers argued the stimulant did not enhance his performance and was accidentally consumed in contaminated tea. CAS said its panel accepted those arguments as factual.

“As such, we turn to the Fifa Council and kindly put forward an urgent request for clemency by asking the Fifa Council to temporarily interrupt the ban imposed on Paolo Guerrero during the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia, with the suspension to recommence at the conclusion of Peru’s participation,” the captains wrote. “We believe that in the interest of fairness and proportionality, and taking into consideration the exceptional circumstances, Paolo who – as everyone agrees did not cheat – should be able to participate with, and against, his fellow professionals in the Fifa World Cup.”

Guerrero’s best hope could be an urgent interim order by a federal judge pending a full hearing. That could freeze the ban before Peru face Denmark on 16 June.