Ivorian international goalkeeper Sylvain Gbohouo has been suspended until 23 June 2023 after testing positive for the banned drug trimetazidine on 16 November, Fifa’s disciplinary Committee announced on Monday.
The Ivorian Football Federation revealed in mid-January that the 33-year-old goalkeeper had been provisionally suspended for doping just before his first CAN match against Equatorial Guinea, before Fifa ruled on the merits of the case without specifying the product involved.
It is trimetazidine, a molecule banned since 2014 by the World Anti-Doping Agency, classified as a “metabolic modulator” because it would improve blood circulation, and recently brought back into the news by the positive test of the young Russian skater Kamila Valieva before the Beijing Olympics.
Gbohouo, the Elephants’ No.1 goalkeeper and African champion in 2015, tested positive after Côte d’Ivoire’s 1-0 loss to Cameroon in the World Cup 2022 qualifier.
According to the disciplinary decision, he explained that he had suffered from vision problems and had been sent by his team’s medical team to an ophthalmologist, who prescribed Vastarel, a drug whose active ingredient is trimetazidine, on 29 March 2021.
The aim was “to improve his retinal blood flow”, said the player, who “stopped the treatment after a month and a half” for lack of improvement. He said he was not aware that the product was banned and denied any intention to drop it.