PAUL POGBA DOPING CASE UPDATE

In the Paul Pogba Doping Case, on which we briefly reported previously on the website, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has now published its reasoned Award (CAS 2024/A/10443 Paul Pogba v. NADO Italia) for reducing the period of ineligibility and quashing the financial penalty imposed on the French football player, who is 32 years old and now plays for AS Monaco.

The Award makes very interesting reading.

The three-member Panel, having concluded that the anti-doping rule violation, committed on 22 August 2022, was not intentional and, therefore, the maximum period of ineligibility should be two years and not four years, then dealt, in some detail, with the question of whether any of the fault-related reductions applied in this case.

The Panel decided that an ineligibility period of 18 months was the appropriate sanction.

Having decided on such period, based on no significant fault or negligence, the Panel determined that there was no room for any ancillary penalty, and, therefore, quashed the sanction of €5,000 (around Sw. Frs. 4,655) imposed on the player.

The full Award can be accessed at: https://www.tas-cas.org/en/jurisprudence/recent-decisions.html.

We advise on and act in doping cases before national doping authorities and also in appeals to CAS and to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court and further information is available from Dr Lucien Valloni and, in relation to Italian cases, from Avv. Sara Botti, by emailing them at valloni@valloni.ch and botti@valloni.ch respectively.