Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk has been charged by the Football Association with anti-doping violations.
Mudryk was provisionally suspended by the FA in December 2024 after failing a drugs test.
The positive test was for the prohibited substance meldonium which was administered abroad when Mudryk was not on Chelsea duty. Mudryk had played for Ukraine in Albania and Georgia in November 2024.
An FA spokesperson said: “We can confirm that Mykhailo Mudryk has been charged with Anti-Doping Rule Violations alleging the presence and/or use of a prohibited substance, in terms of Regulations 3 and 4 of The FA’s Anti-Doping Regulations. As this is an ongoing case, we are not in a position to comment further at this time.”
Mudryk faces a potential ban of up to four years under FA rules.
In a statement last December, Mudryk said his failed drug test was “a complete shock” and said he had “not done anything wrong”.
Mudryk’s legal counsel said on Wednesday: “Mr Mudryk’s position remains as set out in his December statement and he shall not be commenting further at this time owing to the confidentiality of the process.”
Chelsea launched their own investigation in December and said the then 23-year-old insisted he “has never knowingly used any banned substances”.
Mudryk believes his sample was contaminated, with nothing thought to have changed in his diet since he passed a UK Anti-Doping test in August.
Mudryk has not been allowed to train at Cobham and has instead been on an individual fitness programme at home. He went to the Conference League final in Poland in a personal capacity, and although he was photographed wearing a Chelsea bodywarmer, he was not part of the travelling party.
The Ukraine international, signed from Shakhtar Donetsk for £88.5m in January 2023, last played for Chelsea in a 2-0 win at German side Heidenheim in the Conference League on November 28.
FA rules dictate that a player is informed of a positive test and provisionally suspended before a decision is taken on a formal charge.
Sky Sports News has contacted Chelsea for comment.
‘Mudryk faces legal process to clear name’
Sky Sports News’ chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol:
“At the time when Mudryk was provisionally suspended, he was devastated. He feels that he has done absolutely nothing wrong.
“We know that he had a drug test in August 2024, which he passed, and we were led to believe that his diet had not changed at all between August and November.
“He maintains privately that he has never taken a performance-enhancing substance. I’m led to believe that he thinks that his samples may have been contaminated.
“He’s using the same law firm that Paul Pogba used when he was charged with an anti-doping violation when he was at Juventus.
“Mudryk is totally convinced that once the legal process has played out, he will eventually be cleared.
“Worst-case scenario, he is facing a four-year ban, which means that he would not be able to play football again until at least 2029. We’ve seen other cases where players have been banned for six months, a year, 18 months, two years.
“We’ve also seen frequently when players have been found guilty of an anti-doping violation, they’ve gone to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and they have had that ban overturned or it’s been lowered from two years to a year. This is going to be a long legal process.
“Chelsea’s position, when he was provisionally suspended, was that they would do everything by the letter of the law. At the same time, they would look after Mudryk as much as they could because he’s still an employee of the club and this has had a devastating impact on him. They have been reaching out to him to make sure that he’s ok.
“Chelsea have been prepared for this eventuality. Last season, they had Jadon Sancho on loan from Manchester United, who played in Mudryk’s position.
“Speaking to Enzo Maresca at his news conference in the US on Sunday, he mentioned they would definitely sign a winger this summer because Sancho has left and that Mudryk is not available at the moment.”
