CAS reduces the doping ban of Bolivian midfielder Cespedes to 15 months

Bolivian international Boris Cespedes’ suspension for a doping violation has been reduced from two years to 15 months after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) partially upheld his appeal against a FIFA ruling on Monday.

Cespedes, who has played for Swiss club Yverdon-Sport and Bolivia’s national team, tested positive for acetazolamide – a banned diuretic and masking agent – after a doping test during the competition following Bolivia’s World Cup qualifier against Uruguay on March 25, 2025, played at high altitude in El Alto.

FIFA’s disciplinary committee imposed a two-year ban on the player in August 2025, with the provisional suspension granted since May 14, 2025.

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The player appealed to CAS, claiming that the substance had entered his system through medications prescribed by the national team’s medical staff to treat altitude sickness while he was seriously ill and could not verify what he had been given.

After a hearing in January, a single CAS arbitrator ruled that although Cespedes had committed an anti-doping rule violation, he had established on the balance of probabilities that the substance was likely derived from prescription drugs.

“Consequently, the sole arbitrator has determined that a 15-month ineligibility period is proportionate and appropriate to the circumstances of this case,” the release said.

“The appeal is upheld in part and the sanction against Mr Cespedes is amended, with a deduction for the provisional suspension he has served since May 14, 2025.”

Published on June 9, 2026