Mudryk Cleared for Immediate Return as FA and WADA Lift Four-Year Ban
Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk has been cleared to resume his professional football career with immediate effect after the Football Association and the World Anti-Doping Agency resolved his appeal against a four-year doping ban.
The 25-year-old Ukraine international was originally handed a four-year suspension after returning an adverse finding for the prohibited substance meldonium in late 2024. He has not featured in a competitive match since November 2024.
Following an appeal lodged with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the FA confirmed an agreement had been reached alongside WADA after recent updates were made to testing threshold guidelines. Had Mudryk’s original sample been collected under the current criteria today, the concentration of meldonium detected would not have registered as a violation.
Under the terms of the settlement, Mudryk accepted the anti-doping rule violation charge while agreeing to a period of ineligibility equal to the time he has already served away from the game.
”After a long battle, the four-year ban that was imposed on me has been rescinded, and I am free to resume my career with immediate effect,” Mudryk said in a statement. “As I have always maintained from the outset of this case, I have never knowingly or intentionally taken any banned substance. I am grateful that this process has reached a conclusion, that I have been cleared to return to football and that I can now look ahead to my future.”
Mudryk signed for Chelsea from Shakhtar Donetsk in January 2023 in an initial £62m transfer. The Premier League club confirmed they will support his return to full fitness as he joins up with the squad for pre-season preparations.
Chelsea added: “From the outset, this has been an extremely difficult period for Misha, both professionally and personally, and we are pleased that the matter has now reached a conclusion which allows him to return to football with immediate effect.”
