Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba has been handed a four-year football ban for a doping violation. The 30-year-old French international underwent a random drug test after Juventus’ inaugural match of the season on August 20.
Sources indicate that Pogba intends to appeal the decision made by Italy’s national anti-doping tribunal (Nado).
The doping offense was confirmed by Nado in a subsequent sample analysis in October. The anti-doping prosecutor’s office had requested the four-year suspension.
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This ruling implies that Pogba will be ineligible to play until 2027, at the age of 33, and the ban has been retroactively applied to the date of the failed test.
Pogba reportedly contends that if he did unknowingly consume a banned substance, it was unintentional. His agent, Rafaela Pimenta, emphasized that Pogba never intended to violate any rules.
The banned substance in question is testosterone, a hormone known for enhancing athletes’ endurance. Nado asserted that Pogba breached regulations when prohibited non-endogenous testosterone metabolites were discovered in the test, with the results indicating an “exogenous origin of the target compounds.”