Two-year doping ban stands for Pavlov
Tuesday 6 January 2009
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UEFA pursues strict anti-doping policies (©UEFA)
PFC Lokomotiv Sofia midfielder Nikolay Pavlov's appeal against a two-year ban for a doping offence has been rejected by the UEFA Appeals Body.
Doping control
Pavlov was suspended by the UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body last October. A doping control undertaken on the player after Lokomotiv's UEFA Cup second qualifying round first-leg match away to Serbian opponents FK Borac on 14 August revealed the presence of norandrosterone and noretiocholanolone, both metabolites of the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone – included in the UEFA and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list of prohibited substances.
Certain threshold
A concentration of nandrolone above a certain threshold found in the body of a player is considered as a violation of anti-doping stipulations. A second analysis in October confirmed the findings of the first analysis. Under UEFA's anti-doping regulations, every professional player has the duty to ensure that no prohibited substance enters his body.
Duty of care
Under this duty of care, a player must, for example, seek further substantial clarification on nutritional supplements whose composition or origin appear to be doubtful. In reaching its decision, the UEFA Appeals Body concluded that the player's fault in relation to the breach of the anti-doping rule was significant.
All types of matches
As a result of the UEFA Appeals Body decision, Pavlov remains suspended for two years from 11 September 2008 up to and including 11 September 2010. The suspension covers all types of matches, including domestic, international, friendly and official fixtures. FIFA has extended the decision to give it effect within other continental football confederations. This was the fifth case concerning nandrolone dealt with by UEFA since 1994, and the fourth case involving an anabolic steroid since UEFA's new anti-doping programme was launched in 2005.
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