⛔ Banned for doping, Pogba and 9 stars make a comeback 🔙 | OneFootball

Paul Pogba is close to returning to the field and his team seems clear: Monaco. The intake of DHEA cost him 18 months of disqualification (initially 4 years) which expired in March 2025.

But Pogba is not the only footballer to have suffered a long disqualification for doping before returning to the field. Let's see a list of the most important ones.

Diego Maradona – 15 months (1991) and (1994)

In 1991, during his experience at Napoli, Maradona was disqualified for 15 months for using cocaine. He returns to play with Siviglia and Newell's Old Boy and participates in the 1994 World Cup with Argentina, where he is found positive for ephedrine. After that, he returns to the field again with Boca Juniors, the last team of his career.

Pep Guardiola – 4 months (2001, then acquitted)

During his period at Brescia, Guardiola was disqualified for 4 months for positivity to nandrolone. The midfielder also manages to return to the field for the end of the season. In 2016, however, he was definitively acquitted.

Edgar Davids – 4 months (2001)

Edgar Davids tested positive for nandrolone in 2001 while playing for Juventus. The midfielder serves a 4-month disqualification: he misses the end of the season and the start of the next one before resuming with the bianconera shirt.

Jaap Stam – 5 months (2001)

The Dutch defender tested positive for nandrolone while registered with Lazio in 2001. Disqualified for 5 months, he misses from the 11th to the 26th day, closing the championship regularly.

Fernando Couto – 4 months (2001)

As soon as Stam's disqualification ended, Couto was stopped in Lazio and always due to nandrolone. Disqualified for 4 months, he is forced to miss the end of the season and the first day of the next one.

Adrian Mutu – 7 months (2004)

In 2004, Mutu suffered 7 months of disqualification for using cocaine while at Chelsea. After being fired and a long legal dispute, he returns to play in Italy with Livorno in January 2005 before going to Juve and then to Fiorentina.

Kolo Touré – 6 months (2011)

In 2011, Kolo Touré - at the time in Manchester City of Roberto Mancini - tested positive for a diuretic contained in a weight loss pill of his wife. Touré serves a 6-month disqualification that makes him miss the end of the 2010/11 season and the start of the 2011/12 season.

Samir Nasri – 6 months (then extended, 2018)

In early 2018, Samir Nasri was disqualified for the irregular use of restorative infusions while playing for Siviglia, i.e. in 2016. The player who had just closed his experience with Antalyaspor saw the penalty increased from 6 months to 18 months but with retroactive effect from 2017.

In substance, he remains still for a year: he returns to January 2019 with West Ham where he plays a few games before going to Anderlecht.

André Onana – 9 months (2021)

In 2021, Onana suffered a 9-month disqualification after mistakenly taking a medicine from his wife containing a diuretic: furosemide. After the stop, he returns to play with Ajax in the following season but only for a short time, because at the end of the season he has transferred to Inter on the expiration of his contract.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.

📸 Michael Kunkel - Bongarts