Ivory Coast goalkeeper Sylvain Gbohouo has been handed an 18-month ban by football\u2019s world governing body Fifa for a doping violation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 33-year-old tested positive last year for the banned substance trimetazidine, a heart medication which the World Anti-Doping Agency categorises as a stimulant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His ban has been backdated to 23 December and he will be free to play again on 24 June 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is one day after the 2023 Nations Cup gets underway in Ivory Coast, with the finals ending a month later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gbohouo was provisionally suspended in December and missed this year\u2019s Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His positive test came after a 2022 World Cup qualifier against Cameroon on 16 November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs a result of the presence of the prohibited substance in his sample, the player was found to be in violation of article six of the Fifa Anti-Doping regulations,\u201d said a statement on the Fifa website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his defence, Gbohouo said that he was prescribed medicine containing trimetazidine after being taken to a meeting in March 2021 with an opthalmologist by the Ivorian football federation (FIF) itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following an eye examination, he was told to take a medication to improve his retinal blood flow \u2013 with Gbohouo telling officials he stopped the treatment halfway through a three-month course given he noticed no improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The FIF, meanwhile, noted as part of its defence for the goalkeeper that \u201cgood eyesight\u201d is \u201cessential\u201d for such a player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Presented with documentation supporting his claims, Fifa adjudged that Gbohouo had unintentionally doped \u2013 thus reducing his ban from the standard four years for such an offence to two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ban was further reduced by six months after Gbohouo fully corroborated with the Fifa investigators, to whom he outlined the facts of his case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gbohouo, who is on the books of Ethiopian club Wolkite City, has 65 international caps and was part of the Ivory Coast squad that won the Nations Cup title in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n