Ivory Coast goalkeeper Sylvain Gbohouo has been banned for 18 months after testing positive for a prohibited substance, FIFA announced on Monday.

The 33-year-old footballer from Bonoua returned a positive test for trimetazidine, a drug banned because it can boost endurance, after a 2022 World Cup qualifying defeat to Cameroon on November 16.

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The veteran footballer, who returned the positive test after a 2022 World Cup qualifying defeat to Cameroon on November 16 last year. The 33-year-old goalkeeper couldn’t take part in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 2022 after being provisionally suspended for the offence.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) recomended a four-year suspension for goalkeeper, but FIFA’s disciplinary commission considered he had “unintentionally” consumed the prohibited substance, reducing the sanction to 18 months from December 23, 2021.

Gbohouo has won 65 caps for the Ivory Coast and was part of the squad that came up trumps in the AFCON title back in 2015. He was a part of his team in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but didn’t get to play a single match in the tournament.

(Inputs from IANS)