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France midfielder Paul Pogba has been handed a four-year ban from football by Italy’s anti-doping tribunal after testing positive for testosterone in August last year.
The decision against the 30-year-old World Cup winner was confirmed by a spokesman for the club, following Pogba’s provisional suspension in September 2023.
“We received notification from the tribunal this morning,” the spokesman stated. Italy’s anti-doping body did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
Prosecutors in the anti-doping agency had pushed for the four-year ban after Pogba tested positive following Juventus’s Serie A opener against Udinese on August 20, 2023, where he was an unused substitute.
A subsequent B sample confirmed the presence of testosterone, leading to his provisional suspension.
Pogba’s representatives claimed the testosterone was a result of a food supplement prescribed by a doctor he consulted in the United States.
The midfielder, who returned to Juventus in 2022 after a stint at Manchester United, played a pivotal role in France’s 2018 World Cup victory in Russia, scoring in the final against Croatia.
The doping violation came during a challenging period for Pogba, as he attempted to overcome a tough first season back at Juventus, marked by limited appearances and off-field issues, including an investigation into an extortion attempt against him.
