LONDON — Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk has been cleared to return to competition after the English Football Association, the World Anti-Doping Agency and the player resolved his doping case.
Mudryk, one of the most expensive players in world soccer, has not played since late 2024. He failed a drug test while representing Ukraine on international duty, with the analysis producing an adverse finding for meldonium, a prohibited substance.
The English Football Association suspended the winger after bringing an anti-doping rule violation against him. Mudryk appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, leaving him unavailable to play while the case continued.
Procedural changes introduced by WADA during the appeal altered how a sample containing the same concentration of meldonium would now be handled. According to the English Football Association, the concentration detected in Mudryk’s sample would not be reported if the sample were collected under the current procedures, and no anti-doping rule violation would result.
Those changes do not apply retroactively, so they did not automatically remove the original finding or end the case. They did, however, become part of the agreement reached by the English Football Association and Mudryk, with WADA also approving the resolution of the appeal proceedings.
Mudryk admitted the doping offense and accepted a suspension that was covered by the time he had already served. The English Football Association confirmed that he may return to competition immediately, ending the absence that had kept him out of Chelsea’s playing squad since 2024.
The resolution removes the competitive suspension without overturning the original offense. It also closes Mudryk’s appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport after the change in WADA procedures created a different outcome for an equivalent sample collected today.
Mudryk joined Chelsea on an 8 1/2-year contract running through 2031. The transfer was valued at 100m euros, equivalent to $115m, placing him among the highest-priced players in the sport when he signed.