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By KIERAN GILL, MAIL SPORT REPORTER and BEN WILLCOCKS, ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR <\/p>\n
Published:<\/span> 15:35 BST, 29 April 2026 <\/time> <\/span> | Updated:<\/span> 19:13 BST, 29 April 2026 <\/time> <\/span> <\/p>\n
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Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk has been handed the maximum punishment of a four-year ban from the Football Association for anti-doping violations \u2013 and is now appealing with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old Ukrainian logged his appeal against the FA on February 25. It is understood a hearing has yet to be scheduled.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Chelsea signed the attacker for \u00a388million from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2023, and he is under contract until 2030 with a club option to extend for a further year.<\/p>\n
In a statement confirming Mudryk’s ban on Wednesday, a CAS spokesperson said that they could \u2018confirm that he is appealing against the imposed period of ineligibility of four years\u2019.<\/p>\n
Both Chelsea and Mudryk\u2019s representatives were contacted on Wednesday by Daily Mail Sport. <\/span>The FA, who have never announced any ban against the Ukrainian, declined to comment.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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Mykhailo Mudryk is facing four years of a ban from football – but will appeal to CAS<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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The banned substance meldonium is believed to be behind the Ukrainian’s failed test in 2024<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Dark clouds overhead: Chelsea’s exiled winger pictured training alone earlier this month<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Daily Mail Sport <\/span>reported in December 2024 that the banned substance meldonium was believed to be behind Mudryk’s failed drug test.<\/p>\nThe substance is the same drug that former Russian tennis star and multiple Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova\u00a0previously used and a positive test resulted in her being banned for two years in 2016. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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’. <\/p>\n
‘If the soldiers are to operate in the mountains, there\u2019s a lack of oxygen. The way to protect against damage is by using Mildronate,’ he once told WIRED.<\/p>\n
Tons of the substance were previously exported to the Russian army with the scientist also revealing that there were ‘very many who used it’.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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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 \u00a388million<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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It is understood that the Ukrainian’s four-year ban would include time already served in exile<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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The substance is the same drug that former Russian tennis star and multiple Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova was previously banned for –\u00a0designed for ‘Soviet super soldiers’<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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. <\/p>\n
‘Finally the nightmare is over,’ Pogba said in a statement after his successful appeal.<\/p>\n
‘Following the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, I can look forward to the day when I can follow my dreams again’.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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