Mykhailo Mudryk Cleared to Return to Football

Mykhailo Mudryk has been cleared to return to competitive football immediately after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) cut short his four-year doping ban.

The Chelsea winger, 25, has been sidelined since November 2024, frozen out of all competition after an "adverse finding" for the banned substance meldonium led to a provisional suspension imposed by the Football Association the following month.

The FA later handed down the maximum four-year ban. Mudryk challenged that ruling at CAS and, in a pivotal development, the court has now partially upheld his appeal.

CAS confirmed that Mudryk accepted he had broken anti-doping regulations and agreed to serve a suspension matching the period he has already spent out of the game. With that time effectively banked, the court ruled he is eligible to play again “with immediate effect”.

For Chelsea and Ukraine, a long and uncertain wait is over. Now comes the harder part: discovering what kind of player emerges after nearly two years lost to the sidelines.