The most famous cases as Paul Pogba receives ban

There are strict rules in football which regulate what substances a player can take, ensuring no one can get a competitive advantage that isn’t earned by hard work.

Throughout history, athletes across the sporting world have looked for those marginal gains to help them achieve their goals. Unfortunately, those gains are sometimes found in an illegal manner.

Greats like Rio Ferdinand, Pep Guardiola and Diego Maradona have been in trouble with authorities during their playing careers. Sometimes it is an honest mistake, while other cases are less clear.

Here are some of the highest-profile doping cases football has seen over the years.

World Cup winner Paul Pogba returned to Juventus from Manchester United in the summer of 2022 with the hopes of revitalising his career. His 2022/23 campaign was blighted by injuries, being limited to ten appearances in all competitions.

His return in 2023/24 was hotly anticipated in Italy but after facing Udinese in August 2023, he tested positive for a banned substance that can raise testosterone levels. The Frenchman played against Bologna and Empoli before news broke of his positive test and he was suspended in September 2023, pending an investigation.

Pogba argued the substance was ingested accidentally but was still handed a four-year ban, which he is expected to appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

After the ruling Pogba released a statement saying he was ‘sad, shocked and heartbroken that everything I have built in my professional playing career has been taken away from me.’ He continues to deny the charges.

With the ban backdated to September, Pogba won’t play again until the autumn of 2027 if his appeal fails. By then, he will be 34.

Man Utd goalkeeper Andre Onana spent time away from the game after he tested positive for a substance called furosemide in February 2021. He was an Ajax player at the time and fell foul of an out-of-competition check by UEFA.

The UEFA Appeals Body reduced the shot-stopper’s ban from 12 months to nine in June 2021 after they accepted his story of having accidentally taken his wife’s prescription medicine while searching for an aspirin.

Onana stayed at Ajax during his ban before joining Inter where he rebuilt his career, eventually earning a move to Man Utd.

There are two examples of Rio Ferdinand being…