Top five longest football bans including Mykhailo Mudryk and Paul Pogba
Mykhailo Mudryk made his first appearance for Chelsea in a pre-season friendly against Juventus on August 5, 2026, his first match for the club after almost two years. Xabi Alonso gave him an outing in that friendly.
Mudryk joined Chelsea from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2023 and was handed a four-year ban for doping violations in October 2024. A change in WADA’s testing standards cleared him to return to the pitch; according to the report, "a change in WADA’s testing standards meant that Mudryk would not have been found in violation of the anti-doping rules had the incident occurred today." He missed 615 days (over 20 months) before returning for Chelsea in August 2026.
Peruvian forward Paolo Guerrero was initially handed a 12-month ban by FIFA after testing positive for benzoylecgonine, which was reduced to six months by the global footballing body before the Court of Arbitration for Sport accepted an argument by WADA that the initial ruling was too lenient and extended the ban to 14 months. The Swiss Federal Tribunal paused his suspension for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, allowing him to represent Peru in Russia, and he served the remainder of his ban before returning to active play in April 2019.
Diego Maradona tested positive for cocaine in 1991 while playing for Napoli and received a 15-month suspension, after which he left the Italian side for Sevilla. He later returned a positive test for ephedrine during Argentina’s 1994 FIFA World Cup campaign and was handed his 15-month suspension, which the report states effectively ended his career.
Paul Pogba tested positive for non-endogenous testosterone in September 2023, with another sample in February 2024 also testing positive; he was initially handed a four-year ban. A Court of Arbitration for Sport intervention reduced that suspension to 18 months, his Juventus contract was cancelled, he moved to Monaco, and he returned to action in November 2025 after a nearly 26-month absence.
Samir Nasri was found guilty of a doping violation after an IV drip session that the report describes as involving him cheating on his then-girlfriend and tested positive for an assortment of banned substances. He was initially given a six-month ban that was extended to 18 months after a UEFA appeal; he was allowed to return to training in November 2018 and made his professional return in January 2019 in a league match against West Ham United.
For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram. Sushruta has spent over two years covering football, with a particular focus on Indian and international competitions. Alongside football, he has reported on a variety of sports, bringing curiosity and perspective to every story. When he’s not following the action, he can usually be found binge-watching movies or getting lost in a good book.
