Peru's Paolo Guerrero to miss World Cup after positive cocaine test
FIFA's disciplinary committee suspended Peru captain Paolo Guerrero for one year after he tested positive for cocaine in a doping control test for the World Cup, soccer's governing body announced Friday.
The suspension means Peru will be without Guerrero, a striker, in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where the country was drawn in Group C with France, Australia and Denmark earlier this week. Guerrero was Peru's joint top scorer with five goals in qualifying.
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Prior to preliminary competition in Argentina in early October, Guerrero tested positive for the banned drug — the substance is listed as cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine on the World Anti-Doping Agency's 2017 prohibited list.
Testing positive for a banned substance violates Article 6 of FIFA's Anti-Doping Regulations, leading to the one-year ban of all matches, which was predated to November. Guerrero can appeal to overturn the ban. If that fails, Guerrero and Peru could pursue further legal action at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.
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