Paul Pogba expresses relief as his “nightmare ends” following a successful appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which reduced his four-year doping ban to 18 months.
People close to the 31-year-old Juventus player informed BBC Sport that he can start training again in January 2025 and will be allowed to play from March.
The France international received a suspension from Italy’s national anti-doping body (Nado) in February after a drugs test showed high levels of testosterone – a hormone that boosts stamina – in his system.
Cas director general Matthieu Reeb told Reuters the ban had been cut to 18 months starting from 11 September, 2023.
Pogba said in a statement: “At last, the nightmare is over. I can now look ahead to the day when I can chase my dreams again.
“I’ve always maintained that I never knowingly broke World Anti-Doping Agency rules when I took a food supplement prescribed by a doctor, which doesn’t affect or improve male athletes’ performance.
“I play fairly and, while I must accept this as a strict liability offence, I want to thank the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s judges who listened to my explanation.
“This has been an incredibly stressful time in my life because everything I’ve worked so hard for has been put on hold.”
The former Manchester United player took his case to Cas and gave evidence in person at a hearing earlier this summer.
He had previously stated that he would “never knowingly or deliberately” dope and believed the verdict was “wrong”.
If the original ban had remained, the 2018 World Cup winner would have been unable to play until 2027, when he would be 34.
Pogba was provisionally suspended in September 2023 after being randomly tested following Juventus’ first match of the 2023-24 season on 20 August.
The positive test was confirmed by Nado in a second sample in October, and the anti-doping prosecutor’s office requested a four-year suspension.
Speaking at the time of the initial suspension, Pogba’s agent, Rafaela Pimenta, said: “What is certain is that Paul Pogba never wanted to break a rule.”
Juventus re-signed Pogba on a four-year deal in July 2022 after the player ran down his contract at Manchester United and left as a free agent following a six-year spell.
However, his return to Turin has been beset by persistent injury problems which also caused him to miss the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Pogba managed just 162 minutes across five appearances during the 2022-23 season and had played a total of 51 minutes as a substitute in the following campaign before his suspension.
