Paul Pogba The ban has been reduced to 18 months.
Paul Pogba has four-year drug ban reduced to 18 months after successful appeal at Court of Arbitration for Sport
Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba was handed a four-year ban in March for a doping offence; Pogba was provisionally suspended in September 2023 after testing positive a month earlier for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA); the 31-year-old had been set to not play football until August 2027
Pogba, who tested positive for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in the first game of the 2023/24 season, is free to start playing for Juventus again from March next year.
Italy's National Anti-Doping Tribunal (TNA) accepted the request of the Anti-Doping Prosecutor's Office to hand out a four-year ban last March, which is the standard length of ban under the World Anti-Doping Code (WADA). It meant Pogba would not have returned to football until March 2027.
The €5,000 (£4,179) fine imposed on Pogba has been set aside and CAS will officially announce the ban reduction on Monday.
A four-year anti-doping ban can be reduced in cases where an athlete can prove it was not intentional, was the result of contamination, or if they can provide "substantial assistance" to help investigators.
How did Pogba get banned?
The 31-year-old was suspended as a precaution in September 2023 after testing positive for DHEA - a compound that promotes the production of hormones in the body including testosterone - following Juventus' game at Udinese on August 20.
The France international did not play in the Serie A match but was on the bench. He then made substitute appearances for Juventus against Bologna on August 27 and Empoli on September 3, before his suspension was announced.
"Paul Pogba is desperate to get back to playing football and is determined to make up for lost time. The past 14 months have been a total nightmare.
"He sees the ban reduction as good and bad news. It's good because it means he can play again but bad because he has to wait until January to train and March to play. He has been keeping fit at home following his own personal training plan.
"Pogba has been inundated with messages of support today from players and managers. He believes the positive test for DHEA was a totally innocent mistake caused by taking a nutritional supplement.
"His lawyers argued that the supplement he took causes the body to naturally produce testosterone but it has been proven that it only boosts testosterone levels in females.
"That said, DHEA is on the WADA banned list and athletes are responsible for what they put in their body."
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