As a country that has spent a decade and a half exorcising the drama that followed our star player leaving the national team squad right before the 2002 World Cup, the Irish can truly appreciate the relief that is flowing through the veins of the Peruvian people following today's news: Paolo Guerrero will be on the plane to Russia this summer.
Guerrero's place in the squad was hanging by a thread following a severely harsh doping ban handed down to him by the World Anti-Doping Agency in2017. The Peru star had received a twelve month from FIFA for testing positive for a banned substance found in cocaine.
That ban was halved following an appeal in which the footballer proved that the substance had in fact come from a cup of tea he had been given.
WADA appealed FIFA's ruling in the Court Of Arbitration For Sport (CAS) on the grounds that athletes are solely responsible for what they put into their body. The court ruled that Guerrero should thus serve a further 14 months on the sidelines, despite accepting his explanation for how the substance ended up in his system.
Guerrero's last hope was in the Federal Court of Switzerland, where he made an appeal to have his suspension dropped, and his appeal appears to have been successful with his lawyer tweeting the CAS statement on the case confirming that the player has been made eligible to play for his country at this summer's tournament in Russia. Here is the statement in full:
The Court do Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has been notified of the appeal and urgent request fro a stay filed by Peruvian football player Paolo Guerrero at the Swiss Federal Tribunal (STF). The appeal is directed against the CAS decision partially-upholding the appeal filed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against the decision issued by the FIFA Appeal Committee on 20 December 2017 and incresing Mr Guerrero's suspension from 6 to 14 months.
Paolo Guerrero has also filed an urgent request for a stay of the execution of the suspension in order to be able to participate in the forthcoming FIFA World Cup in Russia.
The CAS will not object to the request for a stay.
So far, the CAS panel has only issued its decision, without grounds. The reasoned award with the grounds for the CAS decision will be notified to the parties at a later stage.
BREAKING: SFT has stayed the CAS award. Guerrero to play on the WC2018. Congrats to the top Swiss lawyer and SILA partner, Alex Zen-Ruffinen, for the great work! ?? pic.twitter.com/bvqzQ2WQtl
— Georgi Gradev (@GeorgiGradev) May 31, 2018
Peru have been drawn in Group C alongside France, Denmark and Australia and will be delighted with the news that they can welcome the 34-year-old Flamengo forward back into the fold.
