(photo: CARL DE SOUZA/AFP)
Igor Siqueira and Rodrigo Mattos – Flamengo’s board maintains the active contract of striker Gabriel Barbosa, known as Gabigol, despite the suspension imposed on him by the Anti-Doping Sports Court (TJD/AD).
The appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is a crucial element for Fla’s next steps. If the punishment for attempted doping test fraud persists, Gabigol will only return to play in April 2025.
An initial attempt by the defense is the suspensive effect, which would allow Gabigol to play while there is no trial in the second instance.
Gabigol’s contract
If the discussion regarding Gabigol’s renewal was already stagnant, Flamengo has one more reason to leave this situation aside for now.
The board prefers to focus on the player’s defense. Fla said in a statement that it will continue to assist the attacker in this process.
Flamengo understands that a punishment of this size only happened because it was Gabigol. The club believes that the top scorer gave visibility to the case.
Gabigol’s current contract expires on December 31st. From June 30th, he could already sign a pre-contract with another club. But the suspension, if maintained, will only come to an end in April 2025. The hook applied by the court comes into effect on April 8, 2023, the date on which the examination at Ninho do Urubu was carried out.
Gabigol trusts in innocence
The player said he was confident that his “innocence will be proven and reestablished by the higher court”.
“I have never attempted to obstruct or defraud any exam, and I trust that I will be exonerated. I have never used prohibited substances. I have already been subjected to dozens of tests, all of which were always negative,” said Gabigol.
Can Flamengo suspend Gabigol’s contract?
The prerogative to suspend the contract is provided for in article 28 of the Pelé Law: “The sports entity may suspend the professional athlete’s special sports employment contract, being exempt from paying remuneration during this period, when the athlete is prevented from performing, for an uninterrupted period of more than 90 days, as a result of an act or event of its sole responsibility, unrelated to professional activity, as provided for in the aforementioned contract.”
Contractual suspension, therefore, is not automatic. The parties can agree whether the period affected by the suspension will be added after the original end of the contract or not.
Gabigol Case x Guerrero Case
Flamengo considers that Gabigol’s case is different from that of Paolo Guerrero, who was punished for doping.
At the time, Guerrero was caught using a banned substance: benzoylecgonine, the main metabolite of cocaine and coca leaf, after Peru’s game against Argentina in October 2017, in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
The club suspended the contract on two occasions. One was after the player’s preventive suspension, in the first instance, in November 2017. After a suspensive effect, the bond was activated and Guerrero played for three games.
But then the CAS verdict came out, which confirmed a 14-month suspension for the attacker, and the contract was suspended again.
