<
>

Peru's Paolo Guerrero loses legal bid to have 14-month suspension lifted

EPA/FRANCIS R. MALASIG

Peru captain Paolo Guerrero has lost another legal challenge in his attempt to play again despite a 14-month doping ban.

The Swiss Federal Tribunal said a judge had dismissed Guerrero's request to provisionally lift the suspension and allow him to play for Internacional.

The Brazilian club signed the 34-year-old forward in August despite his legal issues. Later that month, a Swiss federal judge ended the interim freeze on his ban that had allowed Guerrero to play at the World Cup.

Guerrero tested positive for a metabolite of cocaine at a World Cup qualifying game against Argentina in October 2017.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport extended FIFA's six-month ban to 14 months.

Guerrero's legal team was disappointed by the latest court decision but remains optimistic "justice will be done."

A statement from Guerrero's legal team said: "Paolo Guerrero's defence has one additional step to take for justice to be done and with that in mind, it's [the legal team] preparing an annulment petition with new evidence and elements to be presented to the same Tribunal by the 16th of this month at the latest."