Mudryk next? Five big name footballers who served doping bans | OneFootball

Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk could face a lengthy ban after being charged by the Football Association with doping offences.

Mudryk was provisionally suspended in December for failing a doping test and has now been charged by the FA. The Ukraine winger has denied knowingly taking any performance-enhancing substance.

Under FA regulations, he could be banned for up to four years. Mudryk would not be the only high-profile name in football to be banned for doping offences.

Five big name footballers who served doping bans

Diego Maradona

It might come as little surprise to see Diego Maradona’s name feature on this list.

The Argentine ran circles around opposition on the pitch, but off it, he certainly ran in plenty of wrong circles. Maradona was twice banned for drug offences, after developing an addiction to cocaine.

He was first banned in 1991, bringing an end to his iconic time at Napoli. Maradona was slapped with a 15-month suspension.

Three years later, he received a second 15-month ban. Selected for a drugs test after Argentina’s win over Nigeria in the 1994 World Cup, Maradona tested positive for the banned stimulant, ephedrine.

Adrian Mutu

One of English football’s most high-profile cases, Adrian Mutu’s dalliance with drugs ended in messy divorce from Chelsea. The Romanian had been one of the club’s first big-name signings of the Roman Abramovich era and started well enough at Stamford Bridge.

However, a failed drugs test in September 2004 brought a halt to his career with the club, as the FA handed the forward a seven-month ban. The worst was yet to come for Mutu, with Chelsea sacking the player and taking him to court. The Blues argued Mutu’s positive cocaine test broke the terms of his contract and sued the striker for £15.2m, the cost of his transfer from Parma.

Chelsea won the court case after a three-year dispute, while a 2018 appeal from Mutu to the European Court of Human Rights failed to overturn the verdict.

“I was alone and sad, but nothing justified my actions. I should have asked for help, and I didn’t,” Mutu recalled to The Telegraph.

“However, you learn from everything in life, and that lesson made me a better person—much more mature and self-aware. And I’m proud of that. “Zero tolerance – that was Chelsea’s policy regarding drugs. And I think that’s fair. I made a mistake, strayed from the path, and paid the price for it.

“I was caught off guard. I wasn’t used to that life. I was unprepared. I arrived at Chelsea during a turbulent time in my personal life, and I found myself caught up in too many excuses and lies. I was too young and too alone.”

Rio Ferdinand

A lengthy ban even without the sample of a failed drug test. Rio Ferdinand missed a drug test from UK Sport in September 2003, with the Manchester United defender insisting he had ‘forgotten’ he was due for testing after training.

“I knew that forgetting was a pretty lame defence for my actions, but it was the truth,” Ferdinand wrote in his book.

“I never remember anything.”

Two days later, Ferdinand produced a negative test but he was hit with a strict punishment. An eight-month ban ruled the centre-back out of Euro 2024, as England’s Golden Generation took to the tournament without a key figure. What might have been.

Andre Onana

The Manchester United goalkeeper served a ban while representing former club Ajax.

Onana was found to have the banned substance furosemide in a sample test, a finding he blamed on mistakenly taking his wife’s prescribed medicine. The goalkeeper insisted he thought he was taking aspirin but was unsuccessful in his appeal. A 12-month ban was eventually reduced to nine months after an appeal to the  Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Paul Pogba

Paul Pogba is nearing a return to football after serving an 18-month ban for doping offences. The France midfielder was found to have elevated levels of testosterone in two separate samples, and initially hit with a four-year ban. An appeal saw his punishment reduced to 18 months with Pogba insisting he had not purposely taken performance-enhancing drugs.

“Finally the nightmare is over. I can look forward to the day when I can follow my dreams again,” he said when having the ban reduced.

“I always stated that I never knowingly breached World Anti-Doping Agency regulations when I took a nutritional supplement prescribed to me by a doctor, which does not affect or enhance the performance of male athletes.

“I play with integrity and, although I must accept that this is a strict liability offence, I want to place on record my thanks to the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s judges who heard my explanation.

“This has been a hugely distressing period in my life because everything I have worked so hard for has been put on hold.”

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