Paul Pogba, a Juventus midfielder has received a four-year football suspension due to doping.
This was confirmed in a Twitter post by football journalist, Fabrizio Romano. He wrote “BREAKING: Paul Pogba has been banned from football for four years due to doping.”
🚨🇫🇷 BREAKING: Paul Pogba has been banned from football for four years due to doping. pic.twitter.com/1BsdRmijOq
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 29, 2024
After failing a drug test while playing for the Italian giants, the midfielder was first sidelined in September. When a second sample was counter-analyzed, DHEA testing on it likewise produced a positive result.
However, it was decided by the National Anti-Doping Tribunal what punishment Pogba would receive, and it is now official that he won’t be allowed to play again until at least 2028. It represents the longest ban a player may have been given.
Due to the suspension, Pogba will not be able to play until he is 35. Pogba will never again play for the team; his contract with Juventus is scheduled to expire in the summer of 2026. It has not gone well during his second spell with the team.
The Frenchman, who represented his country at the 2018 World Cup, returned to Turin in 2022 after leaving Manchester United on a free transfer. Injury-plagued his first season, and this saw him play in just two games before being suspended.
His international career now appears to be virtually over as well. Pogba had eleven goals and 91 caps for his country, with the last coming in 2022. In the 2018 Russia World Cup, he took home the country’s second championship.
Speaking in December, France boss Didier Deschamps said: “I love all my players, but I’m sad about what Paul is living. I’m not just talking about the most recent events, but also about everything he has experienced so far, with the personal problems that have inevitably had consequences on his injuries. I feel bad for Pogba: how can he do it?”
Pogba’s representative Rafaela Pimenta also previously said “We are waiting for the counter-analysis and until then we can’t say anything. The certain thing is that Paul Pogba never wanted to break the rules.”