Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk has been handed the maximum punishment of a four-year ban from the Football Association for anti-doping violations – and is now appealing with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The 25-year-old Ukrainian logged his appeal against the FA on February 25. It is understood a hearing has yet to be scheduled.
Mudryk has not appeared for Chelsea since November 28, 2024 in a Conference League win over Heidenheim in which he scored prior to his provisional suspension.
Chelsea signed the attacker for £88million from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2023, and he is under contract until 2030 with a club option to extend for a further year.
In a statement confirming Mudryk’s ban on Wednesday, a CAS spokesperson said that they could ‘confirm that he is appealing against the imposed period of ineligibility of four years’.
Both Chelsea and Mudryk’s representatives were contacted on Wednesday by Daily Mail Sport. The FA, who have never announced any ban against the Ukrainian, declined to comment.
Mykhailo Mudryk is facing four years of a ban from football – but will appeal to CAS
The banned substance meldonium is believed to be behind the Ukrainian’s failed test in 2024
Dark clouds overhead: Chelsea’s exiled winger pictured training alone earlier this month
Mudryk has long maintained his innocence and has continued to train individually in the hope of returning. That has included renting the pitch of non-League club Uxbridge.
It is understood, according to historical precedents, that the Ukrainian’s four-year ban would include time already served in exile. Therefore, Mudryk’s suspension from football is likely to take him up until Christmas 2028.
Daily Mail Sport reported in December 2024 that the banned substance meldonium was believed to be behind Mudryk’s failed drug test.
The substance is the same drug that former Russian tennis star and multiple Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova previously used and a positive test resulted in her being banned for two years in 2016.
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Sharapova had previously failed a drugs test at the Australian Open for using meldonium which is sold under the brand Mildronate and is a banned performance enhancing drug.
However, the Latvian scientist who invented the drug – Ivar Kalvins – has outlined that the drug was never to be used by athletes and was instead designed for ‘Soviet super soldiers’.
‘If the soldiers are to operate in the mountains, there’s a lack of oxygen. The way to protect against damage is by using Mildronate,’ he once told WIRED.
Tons of the substance were previously exported to the Russian army with the scientist also revealing that there were ‘very many who used it’.
Mudryk’s initial absence of five games in 2024 was explained as illness by the Stamford Bridge club, who later confirmed that ‘an adverse finding in a routine urine test’ was notified to them by the FA.
The Ukrainian winger will hope his appeal against the length of the ban will be as successful as the one lodged by former Manchester United star Paul Pogba, whose four-year drug suspension was reduced to 18 months in October 2024.
Mudryk (pictured right in August 2024) was one of Europe’s hottest properties when he arrived at Stamford Bridge from Shakhtar Donetsk for a fee worth up to £88million
It is understood that the Ukrainian’s four-year ban would include time already served in exile
The substance is the same drug that former Russian tennis star and multiple Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova was previously banned for – designed for ‘Soviet super soldiers’
Pogba, who tested positive for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in the first match of the 2023-24 campaign, returned to football in early 2025 after moving to French club Monaco.
‘Finally the nightmare is over,’ Pogba said in a statement after his successful appeal.
‘Following the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, I can look forward to the day when I can follow my dreams again’.
