By Adegboyega Adeleye
Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk has been cleared to return to football immediately after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) partially upheld his appeal against a four-year doping ban, ending a case that has kept him out of competitive action since late 2024.
According to BBC Sport, the 25-year-old Ukraine international has not played a competitive match since November 2024 after being provisionally suspended by the Football Association over an adverse test for the banned substance meldonium while on international duty.
Although he was later handed the maximum four-year ban, CAS ruled that he could return immediately after accepting a breach of anti-doping rules and agreeing to a suspension equal to the time already served.
In a significant development, CAS said Mudryk’s sample contained a low concentration of meldonium and noted that subsequent changes to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) technical reporting standards mean that if the same sample were tested today, it would not be reported as a positive test.
