Saturday, August 1, 2026 - Chelsea FC winger Mykhailo Mudryk has been cleared to return to competitive football immediately after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) partially upheld his appeal against a doping ban.
Mudryk had been provisionally suspended and widely reported
to have received a four-year ban after an adverse finding for the banned
substance meldonium, which meant that he has not played since November 2024.
CAS ruled that Mudryk could return after he accepted
breaking anti-doping rules and reached an agreement for a suspension equivalent
to the time he had already served.
The FA said: "Changes have been made… which, while not
retroactive, mean that if Mr Mudryk's sample was collected today, the
concentration of meldonium in the sample would not have been reported and no
anti-doping rule violations would have resulted.
"Further to that development and to other circumstances
of the case, the FA and Mr Mudryk have now - with the agreement of WADA -
resolved the appeal proceedings.
"As a part of the agreement, Mr Mudryk accepted that he
had committed the ADRVs (Anti-Doping Rule Violations) charged and
acceded to a period of ineligibility equal to the time served at the date of
the agreement.
"Mr Mudryk is no longer ineligible and may return to
competition with immediate effect."
The Blues signed Mudryk for £88m from Shakhtar Donetsk in
January 2023.
A Chelsea statement said of the resolution of his ban:
"We welcome the acknowledgement that advances in the applicable scientific
reporting standards for more reliable testing mean that, had Misha's sample
been analysed under today's technical requirements, it would not have been
reported as a positive test and no anti-doping rule violation would have
resulted. That is an important part of the context surrounding the agreed
resolution and allows everyone involved to move forward."
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