France international Paul Pogba said he was “shocked and heartbroken” after being given a four-year ban from soccer by Italy’s anti-doping tribunal following a positive test for testosterone in August last year, his club Juventus said on Thursday.
A spokesman for the club said that it had been notified of the decision against the 30-year-old FIFA World Cup winner, who had been provisionally suspended in September last year.
“We received notification from the tribunal this morning,” the spokesman said.
Photo: AFP
Italy’s anti-doping body did not immediately respond when contacted.
Pogba said that he would appeal the ruling, which risks bringing a premature end to his career.
“I am sad, shocked and heartbroken that everything I have built in my professional playing career has been taken away from me,” he wrote on Instagram.
Saying the verdict was “incorrect,” he denied ever using performance-enhancing substances.
“When I am free of legal restrictions the full story will become clear, but I have never knowingly or deliberately taken any supplements that violate anti-doping regulations,” he said. “As a consequence of the decision announced today I will appeal this before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.”
The ban means Pogba would not be able to play again until the 2027-2028 season, by which time he would be 34.
Anti-doping prosecutors had called for the four-year ban to be imposed on the former Manchester United midfielder, who tested positive following Juventus’ opening match of the Serie A season against Udinese on Aug. 20 last year, during which he was an unused substitute.
A month later a B sample confirmed the presence of testosterone and he had been provisionally suspended since.
Pogba’s representatives said the testosterone came from a food supplement prescribed by a doctor he consulted in the US.
The ban could have been limited to two years if Pogba had been able to prove he was not at fault, or even just a few months if the use of the substance took place “out of competition and [was] not related to his level of performance.”
Pogba, who returned to Juventus for a second spell in 2022 after six years at Manchester United, was a key member of the France team that won the FIFA World Cup in Russia in 2018, scoring in the final against Croatia.
His positive doping test came as he was trying to put behind him a difficult first season back at Juve, in which he struggled with fitness problems and made just 10 appearances, while also missing France’s defense of the World Cup in Qatar due to injury.
He made two substitute appearances for Juventus at the start of this campaign before being suspended.
France coach Didier Deschamps said he “could not imagine” that Pogba “had the intention, the desire to take drugs.”
“What Paul has been experiencing for several months is extremely hard and I obviously cannot remain indifferent to his pain, given everything he has achieved,” Deschamps said in a statement.
Pogba, who was a youth player at Le Havre before a first move to Old Trafford aged 16 in 2009, has been troubled by off-field issues.
An investigation is ongoing in France into an extortion attempt against him in March 2022, which involved a break-in at his home in the Paris suburbs.
Two intruders allegedly held Pogba against his will demanding 13 million euros (US$14.1 million at the current exchange rate).
Pogba’s older brother, Mathias, is one of the suspects involved in the case, along with childhood friends of the family.
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