Hupu, on April 29, The Athletic UK Chelsea and team reporter team wrote Mudrick's column.
Chelsea winger Mihailo Mudric is appealing a four-year ban from the Football Association for breaching anti-doping rules.
People with knowledge of the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak publicly about the matter, confirmed that the 25-year-old had been banned by England's football governing body for the maximum period of four years for doping.
Mudrick has not participated in a professional game since November 2024. Not long after, the Football Association contacted him because his routine urine test result was positive. Subsequently, in June 2025, he was accused of violating the Football Association's anti-doping regulations.
Mudrick firmly claimed that he was not guilty. Currently, he is training alone at the home court of the non-professional league team Uxbridge Football Club to maintain good condition and wait for news about his comeback.
He is now appealing the penalty at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The Court of Arbitration for Sport, also known as CAS, issued a statement to The Athletic saying that CAS made it clear that it had received the appeal submitted by Mykhailo Mudryk on February 25, 2026 against the Football Association. The two sides are currently exchanging written materials, but the hearing has not yet been arranged.
The Athletic has contacted the FA for comment.
The Athletic learned from many unnamed sources that Mudrik tested positive for meldonium after he represented the Ukrainian national team in an international match in November 2024. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
Meldonium is a drug with an anti-ischemic effect. According to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the drug is generally used clinically to treat "cardiac conditions, such as insufficient blood supply to the heart and angina pectoris." For athletes, it can help improve endurance and recovery ability after exercise.
The drug has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, and is currently only available in parts of Eastern Europe. It was included in the list of banned substances by the World Anti-Doping Agency, WADA, in January 2016, and its use is prohibited at any time, whether in or out of competition.
The FA's anti-doping regulations stipulate that any violations will be dealt with according to the principle of strict liability, which means that if a banned substance is detected in a player's body, the player will be deemed to have violated the rules. The regulations do not require proof of intentionality on the part of the player, and the lack of intention or knowledge claimed by the player cannot be used as a valid defense.
The maximum penalty is a four-year ban from football. This penalty is for breaches of the FA's anti-doping regulations. However, there are certain mitigating factors that can reduce the ban to a minimum of one month and a maximum of two years.
Historical precedent suggests any penalty would cover the 16 months Mudrick has already been suspended. If he is found not guilty, he could theoretically return to the game immediately.
Who will make the decision on the ruling of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, also known as CAS? Have football players won their cases in the past during appeals?
The appeal arbitration procedure of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport begins with the exchange of written materials between the two parties. After completing this stage, the two parties will negotiate to determine whether a sole arbitrator or an arbitration panel will evaluate the evidence submitted.
If the arbitration is conducted through an arbitration panel, both parties can each nominate an arbitrator from the CAS arbitrator list, and the chairman of the arbitration panel is independently selected.
After following the written procedures, a hearing may be scheduled to review the arguments, oral testimony, and expert evidence of both parties. After this, the arbitrator or arbitration panel will conduct a review and make a final award.
The specialized anti-doping department was established by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Its responsibility is to hear and make rulings on anti-doping cases in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Regulations.
In the football world, the protagonist of the most famous case of successfully appealing a doping violation to CAS is Paul Pogba. In October 2024, the CAS panel accepted the France international's defense and determined that he did not intentionally ingest banned substances, so he reduced his initial four-year ban to 18 months.
What did Mudrick do?
In December 2024, there was a routine drug test. This drug test found that the urine sample provided by Mudrick was positive. According to Chelsea, this result was "unfavorable" and this situation caused him to be immediately temporarily suspended from the Chelsea first team. He is currently waiting for further test results.
When collecting urine samples, two urine samples will be placed in two containers respectively. Sample A is used for preliminary testing. If the result is positive, sample B will be tested to verify the accuracy of the initial test results.
In this way, after Mudrick's A sample tested positive, his B sample was also tested, and the final result showed that he had taken the banned drug meldonium.
Later, Chelsea issued a statement saying that Mudrick "has unequivocally confirmed that he has never knowingly taken any banned substances." In the same statement, Mudrick said: "This is completely beyond my expectations. Since I have never knowingly taken any illegal drugs or violated any rules, I am working closely with my team to investigate how this happened."
What is Meldonium? Which athletes have been caught taking it?
Simply put, it is an illegal drug.
Meldonium, a heart disease drug used to treat ischemia, a disease in which blood flow to body tissues, muscles or organs is restricted, was developed in the former Soviet Union in 1970.
It stimulates metabolism and increases blood flow, which improves athletes' performance. In January 2016, it was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) banned list, and a year before that, it had been included in the agency's monitoring program.
The most high-profile case of an athlete banned for taking meldonium is Russian former tennis player Maria Sharapova, who tested positive for the drug at the 2016 Australian Open, prompting the International Tennis Federation to ban her for two years. Sharapova admitted that taking the drug was "a huge mistake."
At a press conference in Los Angeles, Sharapova said that her family doctor had prescribed the drug for her for ten years, but she did not know that the drug was also called meldonium, and that meldonium had been included on WADA's banned drug list a few weeks before she tested positive.
Sharapova's suspension was reduced to 15 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in October 2016, on the basis that she did not intentionally cheat and that there was "no gross fault or negligence on her part."
Before Meldonium was banned, it was not uncommon among Eastern European athletes. However, in 2016, due to the positive drug tests of many players, the Russian Ice Hockey Association changed the U18 team to the U17 team at the World U18 Championship, which triggered a doping scandal.