The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne has officially announced the decision to reduce the sentence of French footballer Paul Pogba from four years to 18 months, DPA reports, citing the player himself.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup champion was disqualified until August 2027 by the Italian Anti-Doping Agency in February after he tested positive for dehydroepiandrosterone in August 2023 in a Serie A match against Udinese.
The footballer appealed the sanction to CAS, claiming that the banned substance entered his body after consuming a dietary supplement, and asked to reduce his sentence to 12 months. The court partially agreed with Paul Pogba's position, stating that there was evidence that "the ingestion was not intentional and was the result of a supplement prescribed by a Florida doctor".
However, CAS still recognized that Pogba was not innocent in this case and as a professional athlete "should have been more careful in the circumstances," the court ruling said.
"Finally, the nightmare is over. I can't wait for the day to come when I can follow my dreams again," the French player wrote on social media.