Paul Pogba hit with four-year doping ban
French football star Paul Pogba has been given a four-year ban from the sport by Italy's anti-doping tribunal after testing positive for testosterone last August. His club Juventus said it had been notified of the decision against the 30-year-old World Cup winner, who had been provisionally suspended in September. 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. 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. (AFP)