France star Paul Pogba has been given a four-year ban from football by Italy’s anti-doping tribunal after testing positive for testosterone last August, his club Juventus said on Thursday.
A spokesman for the club told AFP it had been notified of the decision against the 30-year-old World Cup winner, who had been provisionally suspended in September.
“We received notification from the tribunal this morning,” the spokesman said. Italy’s anti-doping body did not immediately respond when contacted by AFP.
Anti-doping prosecutors had called for the four-year ban to be imposed on the former Manchester United midfielder, who tested positive following Juventus’s opening match of the Italian Serie A season against Udinese on August 20, during which he was an unused substitute.
A month later a B sample confirmed the presence of testosterone, and he has been provisionally suspended since.
“Everything I have built in my professional career has been taken away from me,” he said in a statement.
Pogba said he believed the verdict was “incorrect” and he would “never knowingly or deliberately” dope.
“When I am free of legal restrictions, the full story will become clear,” he said.
“As a professional athlete I would never do anything to enhance my performance by using banned substances and have never disrespected or cheated fellow athletes and supporters of any of the teams I have played for, or against.”
The ruling means Pogba will be unable to play until 2027, when he will be 33, with the ban backdated to the date of the failed test.
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.”
Testosterone is a hormone that increases the endurance of athletes.
Pogba’s representatives said the testosterone came from a food supplement prescribed by a doctor he consulted in the United States.
Pogba, who returned to Juventus for a second spell in 2022 after six years at United, was a key member of the France team that won the World Cup in Russia in 2018, scoring in the final against Croatia.
His positive doping test came as he was trying to put behind him a difficult first season back at Juve, in which he made just 10 appearances and was troubled by off-field issues including an investigation into an extortion attempt against him.