Ivory Coast goalkeeper Gbohouo suspended for 18 months by Fifa after using banned substance

The Fifa Disciplinary Committee has suspended Ivory Coast international goalkeeper Sylvain Gbohouo for 18 months after a positive test for the banned substance Trimetazidine.

The 33-year-old Wolkite City goalkeeper has been serving a provisional suspension after a positive test in November's 2022 World Cup qualifiers, when the Elephants played Cameroon in Yaounde and lost by a solitary goal.

"On 16 November 2021, the Ivorian player Sylvain Gbohouo was subjected to doping control after the match played in the frame of the preliminary competition for the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022," read part of the ruling.

"On 18 December 2021, the aforementioned laboratory reported the analysis results via the Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS), where it was stated that the player’s urine sample had returned an Adverse Analytical Finding for the substance Trimetazidine, a non-specified substance prohibited under the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC) International Standard Prohibited List 2021."

In the hearing, the player admitted to having used the substance unknowingly during his visit to the hospital for an eye problem.

The Disciplinary Board then went on to rule the player will be out until mid-2023, putting his chances of playing in the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations to be held in his home nation in jeopardy.

"The player, Mr. Sylvain Gbohouo, is sanctioned with a period of ineligibility of 18 months for having infringed the relevant provision of the Fifa Disciplinary Code related to Doping as well as the relevant provision of the Fifa Anti-Doping Regulations sanctioning the Presence of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in a Player’s Sample," the statement affirmed.

"This period of Ineligibility shall run from 23 December 2021 until 23 June 2023.

"The aforementioned sanction covers the participation, in any capacity, in a competition or activity authorised or organised by Fifa or any association, a club or other member organisation of an association, or in competitions authorised or organised by any professional league or any international or national - level competition organisation or any elite or national level sporting activity funded by a governmental agency."