The game either lacks a big drugs problem or isn’t catching cheats – and has long struggled to bring prosecutions
Whether Mykhailo Mudryk is, ultimately, cleared or banned, he can count himself unlucky. The number of high-profile footballers embroiled in performance-enhancing drug scandals is tiny. Even fewer serve significant bans if found guilty.
Mudryk is doubly unfortunate in that the Football Association runs a pretty good anti-doping programme compared with many of its counterparts and it was an FA test in October this year that resulted in what is known as an adverse analytical finding.
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