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Lausanne, 8 June 2026 <\/strong>\u2013 The Court of Arbitration for Sport has partially upheld an appeal by football player Boris Cespedes (Bolivia) against a FIFA decision, concerning an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV). Mr Cespedes\u2019 suspension from any football-related activity has been reduced from a period of two years to 15 months, with credit for provisional suspension served.<\/p>\n Boris Cespedes is a professional football player of Bolivian nationality who then played for Swiss Super League club Yverdon-Sport FC and represents the national team of the Bolivian Football Federation (FBF). He was selected for an in-competition doping control following the match Bolivia v. Uruguay played on 25 March 2025 in the Estadio Municipal de El Alto, located at 4000 metres above sea level (FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers). The player did not play that match as he was unwell.<\/p>\n On 7 August 2025, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee (FIFA DC) found the player responsible for violating the FIFA Disciplinary Code and the FIFA Anti-Doping Regulations by committing an ADRV. Acetazolamide was found in the player\u2019s sample, which is a Specified Substance in the World Anti-Doping Code Prohibited List (S5, diuretics and masking agents). The FIFA DC imposed a period of ineligibility of two years, with credit for the provisional suspension voluntarily served since 14 May 2025.<\/p>\n Mr Cespedes filed an appeal with CAS against FIFA on 3 October 2025. He requested that CAS annuls the FIFA DC decision and issues a new decision with a suspension of no more than six months, for bearing no significant fault or negligence. The appeal stated that Mr Cespedes was prescribed medication for altitude sickness by the FBF team doctor and due to severe illness, was in no condition to verify the medications administered to him.<\/p>\n A virtual hearing was held on 15 January 2026 where a Sole CAS Arbitrator examined the evidence and the arguments of the parties. The Sole Arbitrator found that Mr Cespedes committed an ADRV and the finding of acetazolamide in his sample is not in dispute. However, the Sole Arbitrator also found that Mr Cespedes narrowly established, the source of the prohibited substance, which more likely than not entered his system through altitude sickness medication prescribed by FBF medical staff.<\/p>\n The Sole Arbitrator also considered various factors to determine Mr Cespedes\u2019 degree of fault. They noted that the Player was significantly incapacitated by sickness during the relevant period, but that there is a certain amount of responsibility that he must bear, which cannot be delegated to team doctors regardless of the circumstances. Mr Cespedes is familiar with his doping control obligations as a professional footballer playing at a high level for twelve years. For these reasons, the Sole Arbitrator determined that the player\u2019s degree of fault was \u201cnormal\u201d and that the applicable range of ineligibility under the FIFA Anti-Doping Regulations corresponds to a range of 12 to 24 months.<\/p>\n Consequently, the Sole Arbitrator determined that a period of ineligibility of 15 months is proportionate and appropriate to the circumstances of this case. The appeal is partially upheld and the sanction against Mr Cespedes is amended, with a deduction for the provisional suspension served since 14 May 2025.<\/p>\n We act in doping cases before the Court of Arbitration for Sport and in appeals to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court and before the Court of Human Rights and further information is available from Dr Lucien Valloni or Kim Gamboni by emailing them at valloni@valloni.ch<\/a> or gamboni@valloni.ch<\/a> respectively<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lausanne, 8 June 2026 \u2013 The Court of Arbitration for Sport has partially upheld an appeal by football player Boris Cespedes (Bolivia) against a FIFA decision, concerning an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV). Mr Cespedes\u2019 suspension from any football-related activity has been reduced from a period…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[639,93,94,79,667],"class_list":["post-25455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-de","tag-sportslaw-valloni","tag-adrv-de","tag-anti-doping-de","tag-cas-de","tag-fifadisciplinarycommittee"],"yoast_head":"\n