Peru captain Paolo Guerrero to miss 2018 World Cup, banned 1 year

Guerrero tested positive for cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine after a World Cup qualifying game in Argentina on Oct. 5.

Peru captain Paolo Guerrero will miss the World Cup after being banned by FIFA for one year because of a positive test for cocaine. The suspension imposed by the FIFA disciplinary committee covers “all types of matches” and was backdated to start on Nov. 3, football’s governing body said Friday.

The 33-year-old Guerrero tested positive for “cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine,” a banned stimulant, after a World Cup qualifying game in Argentina on Oct. 5.

He can appeal to FIFA to overturn the ban. If that fails, Guerrero and the Peruvian football federation have a further legal route at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.

Guerrero, a striker who plays for Brazilian club Flamengo, was Peru’s top scorer with six goals in World Cup qualifying.

When FIFA provisionally banned Guerrero while prosecuting the case, he missed Peru’s decisive intercontinental playoff win over New Zealand.

Last week, Peru was drawn into a World Cup group with face France, Denmark and Australia.

Guerrero’s lawyer, Pedro Fida, told Peru’s RPP Noticias that the sanction is “absurd” and promised to appeal.

“The evidence is clear, and when added to the low concentration of the substance typical of coca leaves there can be no justification under any circumstances for this decision,” Fida said.