October 3 – After a succession of twists and turns, Peru captain Paolo Guerrero has lost his final attempt to get his 14-month ban for a doping offence permanently lifted.
The rollercoaster ride of Guerrero has finally reached its end after a ruling by the highest court in Switzerland that will rule the Peruvian icon out of action until April 2019.
Guerrero, Peru’s all-time top scorer, was originally suspended for a year by FIFA on December 8 after testing positive for cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine following Peru’s 0-0 draw away to Argentina the previous October. He argued the stimulant had not been performance enhancing and was accidentally consumed in contaminated tea.
FIFA reduced the ban to six months, meaning it technically ended in time for him to play at the World Cup in Russia but the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a request by WADA for a longer sanction and issued a 14-month ban in May.
Two weeks after that ruling, a Swiss federal judge stepped in to rule Guerrero should not be denied a possible “crowning glory” in what was Peru’s first World Cup appearance for 36 years.
But the ban was re-imposed last month and the Swiss court said in a statement on Monday that it had turned down a request for yet another suspension. Guerrero signed a three-year contract at Internacional in August after his deal with Flamengo expired, but he is yet to play for his new club.
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