Juventus disclosed on Thursday that France’s football star, Paul Pogba, has been handed a four-year ban from football by Italy’s anti-doping tribunal after testing positive for testosterone last August. The 30-year-old World Cup winner had been provisionally suspended in September pending the tribunal’s decision.
A spokesperson for Juventus informed AFP that the club received notification of the decision against Pogba from the tribunal. However, Italy’s anti-doping body did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
A source close to Pogba confirmed to AFP that he intends to appeal the ruling, which could potentially curtail his career prematurely. As a result of the ban, Pogba will be ineligible to play until the 2027/28 season, by which time he will be 34 years old.
Anti-doping prosecutors had pushed for a four-year ban for the former Manchester United midfielder, who tested positive following Juventus’s opening match of the Italian Serie A season against Udinese on August 20. Pogba, who was an unused substitute in that game, had a B sample test positive for the presence of testosterone a month later, leading to his provisional suspension.
Pogba’s representatives attributed the presence of testosterone to a food supplement prescribed by a doctor he consulted in the United States. The ban could have been reduced to two years if Pogba could prove he was not at fault, or even to a few months if the substance use occurred “out of competition and (was) not related to his level of performance”.
Pogba rejoined Juventus for a second stint in 2022 after spending six years at Manchester United. He was a vital part of the France team that clinched the World Cup in Russia in 2018, scoring in the final against Croatia.
This doping controversy comes at a challenging time for Pogba, who struggled with fitness issues in his first season back at Juventus, making only 10 appearances and missing out on France’s World Cup campaign in Qatar due to injury.
In addition to his footballing woes, Pogba has been embroiled in off-field troubles, including an extortion attempt at his home in the Paris suburbs in March 2022. His older brother Mathias and childhood friends of the family are among the suspects involved in the case.
Pogba’s contract with Juventus runs until 2026, but the club has suspended payment of his salary since the announcement of the positive test. Despite a promising start to his career at Manchester United and subsequent success at Juventus, Pogba’s future in football remains uncertain following this ban.
Reported By AFP.
