Peru striker Paolo Guerrero has received the backing of players’ union FIFPro ahead of a meeting with FIFA’s president to try to overturn a drugs ban that could keep him out of the World Cup.
FIFPro said the 14-month ban for taking cocaine was “unfair and disproportionate” and said its representatives wanted to meet FIFA as well to plead 34-year-old Guerrero’s case.
FIFPro said the ban was “the latest example of a World Anti-Doping Code that too often leads to inappropriate sanctions, especially when it has been established that there was no intent to cheat”.
It recalled that both FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport had agreed that 34-year-old Guerrero did not knowingly ingest the substance and that there was no performance-enhancing effect.
Guerrero, who says he accidentally ingested the cocaine in tea, said in a message on Facebook that he was hopeful his meeting with FIFA supremo Gianni Infantino could lead to a breakthrough.
“A hope has appeared that I could play in the World Cup. That is my big dream… I hope to return with good news,” he said.
Guerrero, who had been set to captain Peru in Russia, already has the backing of Peru’s President Martin Vizcarra and his international teammate Luis Advincula on Sunday led hundreds of fans in a prayer for Guerrero.
CAS last month extended his ban from six months to 14 months.
