Flamengo suspends Guerrero's contract after CAS ruling

Flamengo has suspended Paolo Guerrero's contract after the Court of Arbitration for Sport this week extended the Peruvian striker's doping ban to 14 months, sources with the Brazilian football club said.

The Rio de Janeiro club's management had earlier frozen the player's salary during a six-month ban that ended earlier this month, reports Efe news agency.

Guerrero, 34, was originally suspended for a year after a routine doping test in October 2017 detected a cocaine metabolite, but FIFA, soccer's world governing body, subsequently reduced the penalty to six months and the player returned to action May 6 with Flamengo.

But on Monday the Switzerland-based CAS extended the doping sanction against the Peru national soccer captain to 14 months total, which means the striker will miss this summer's World Cup in Russia.

Efe confirmed the information about Guerrero's latest contract suspension with club sources on Friday, who said the decision was a "formality" that is covered under existing law.

Since Guerrero's contract with Flamengo expires in August and CAS's decision will keep him off the field until January, it is possible he will not suit up again for Brazil's most popular club.

While the judges accepted that Guerrero "did not attempt to enhance his performance by ingesting the prohibited substance," the CAS said in its decision, "the Panel considered that the Player did bear some fault or negligence, even if it was not significant, and that he could have taken some measures to prevent him from committing the (doping violations)."

--IANS

ajb/