Pogba has doping suspension cut to 18 months, eligible to play next March

French soccer player Paul Pogba's doping suspension has been cut to 18 months from an initial four years, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on Friday.

"The suspension is now 18 months, starting Sept. 11, 2023," CAS director general Matthieu Reeb told Reuters.

The France international was provisionally suspended by Italy's national anti-doping organisation (NADO Italia) in September 2023 after testing positive for DHEA - a banned substance that raises levels of testosterone.

The 31-year-old Pogba, who has a contract with Italy's Juventus until June 2026, denied any wrongdoing and said in February he would appeal to CAS.

The doping test was performed after Juve's 3-0 season-opening victory in Serie A at Udinese on Aug. 20, 2023.

The tribunal said it had detected prohibited "non-endogenous testosterone metabolites", adding that the results were "consistent with the exogenous (external) origin of the target compounds".