FIFA empathy not enough to topple CAS in Guerrero doping case
AFP/File / Ernesto BENAVIDESPeru fans rally in support of team captain Paolo Guerrero, but the Flamengo star's World Cup chances are hanging by a thread
FIFA chief Gianni Infantino on Tuesday delivered a hammer blow to Peru captain Paolo Guerrero's hopes of overturning a doping ban to play at the World Cup by underlining the supremacy of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Guerrero's attempt to clear his name following a ban for testing positive for traces of cocaine backfired in spectacular fashion: it led the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to increase an initial six-month suspension to 14 months last week.
Now ruled out of the World Cup and suspended by his Brazilian club Flamengo, Guerrero is not scheduled to return to competition until January 2019.
Guerrero's case has prompted an outpouring of support from his native Peru, where even the president Martin Vizcarra led calls for clemency.
But after a heartfelt appeal to FIFA, the player and his representatives may now be forced into a last-ditch appeal to a Swiss federal tribunal -- the only body qualified to amend or cancel the suspension.
After the player and Peruvian football federation (FPF) chief, Edwin Oviedo, met FIFA President Gianni Infantino in Zurich on Tuesday, a statement from world football's ruling body said it was virtually powerless to change final decisions by CAS.
"Gianni Infantino expressed his deep understanding of Guerrero’s disappointment in not being able to join the Peruvian squad at the 2018 FIFA World Cup," said a short FIFA statement.
"However, the FIFA President also stressed the fact that the sanction had been imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, after an appeal lodged against a decision of an independent FIFA judicial body."
Guerrero's only hope may now lie with appealing to a Swiss Federal Tribunal.
Guerrero was initially banned for one year after traces of the drug, which is on the banned list of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), were found in a sample following a World Cup qualifier against Argentina on October 5 last year.
FIFA reduced the ban to six months on appeal last December. That ban ended on May 3, making Guerrero eligible to play at the June 14-July 15 World Cup in Russia.
But the emblematic Peru captain wanted the ban annulled and arrived at a CAS hearing two weeks ago flanked by lawyers.
WADA retaliated, appealing to CAS to uphold their original sanction, and sport's top arbitration court responded by increasing Guerrero's ban.
CAS said on May 14: "The CAS decided to increase Mr Guerrero’s suspension from six to 14 months, starting today (Monday), with the period of provisional suspension of six months already served by Mr Guerrero being credited against the total period of ineligibility to be served."
Peru face France, Australia and Denmark in Group C at the World Cup.
Ronaldo voices support for Sporting players after attack
AFP / GABRIEL BOUYSCristiano Ronaldo made his professional debut at Sporting before moving to Manchester United in 2003
Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo offered his support on Tuesday to Sporting Lisbon players in the wake of a horrific gang attack at the club's training ground last week.
A 50-strong gang of masked and hooded men brutally attacked players and officials at training last Tuesday, leaving Dutch international Bas Dost requiring stitches to his neck.
"I'm 100 percent behind them," Ronaldo, who started his career with Sporting after coming up through the club's academy, told Portuguese television channel RTP.
"It's a troublesome situation. I must always be on the side of the players and the coach. We are doing the same job."
But the Real Madrid star was reluctant to advise the Sporting players how to respond, saying he wasn't "the person best placed to do so".
"Everyone makes their own decisions and you have to respect them," he added.
Twenty-three people have been remanded in custody following the attack on Sporting's Alcochete training base in the Lisbon suburbs.
The incident came in the build-up to Sunday's Portuguese Cup final, which Sporting lost 2-1 to unfancied Aves to complete a miserable end to the season.
Sporting finished third in the table following a defeat at Maritimo in their final game of the season to miss out on a place in the Champions League qualifying rounds.
Russian footballers cleared after FIFA doping probe
AFP/File / FABRICE COFFRINIFIFA said it could find no evidence of doping among players from World Cup host nation Russia's squad
FIFA has ended a doping investigation into Russian footballers named in the country's provisional World Cup squad after finding "insufficient evidence" of any wrongdoing, it said on Tuesday.
World football's governing body launched a probe into "possible anti-doping rule violations" by players "against whom a suspicion had been raised" following the publication of the McLaren report on mass doping in Russia.
The enquiry was part of a broader investigation into players likely to participate at the World Cup, the result of which was "that insufficient evidence was found to assert an anti-doping rule violation", FIFA said in a statement.
FIFA added it had "informed the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) of its conclusions, and WADA in turn has agreed with FIFA's decision to close the cases."
The report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, produced at the request of WADA, revealed a "state-sponsored" doping system in Russia that reached its peak during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
The bombshell revelations prompted the suspension of numerous Russian athletes with several stripped of medals, while the country was formally banned from the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, where Russian competitors were only allowed to take part as 'neutrals'.
Several Russian footballers were named in the McLaren report, although they were never publicly identified.
As part of the probe, FIFA said it carried out "an assessment of all information and evidence contained in the McLaren report, with the support of scientific and legal experts."
FIFA also got in touch with McLaren "to obtain further details from him" and sent questions to Grigory Rodchenkov, the Russian whistleblower who served as the former head of Moscow's anti-doping laboratory.
Samples taken by FIFA and confederations which were stored in WADA-accredited laboratories of players listed in the McLaren report and "high-level" players were re-analysed for banned substances.
Samples seized by WADA from the Moscow laboratory were also retested.
"All results were negative," FIFA said.
In addition, FIFA performed unannounced doping controls during the process of the investigation, with the Russian squad "one of the most tested teams" ahead of the tournament.
FIFA said it was also still working alongside WADA on an investigation into several players who will not be involved at the World Cup.
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