Gabigol is cleared to return to play for Flamengo.
The club announced this Tuesday morning (30) that the attacker’s defense had obtained a suspensive effect from the Court of Arbitration for Sport for a two-year punishment for attempted fraud in an anti-doping test.
“Athlete Gabriel Barbosa is free to participate in competitions held by the Clube de Regatas do Flamengo. The attacker’s defense achieved the suspensive effect by unanimous decision”, the club posted on its social networks.
See below the statement issued by the Court of Arbitration for Sport:
“We inform that the Board of Arbitrators responsible for the matter CAS 2024/A/10473 Gabriel Barbosa Almeida v. União & ABCD issued an Order granting the request to suspend the execution of the punishment imposed on Gabriel Barbosa Almeida”.
“Consequently, the 24 (twenty-four) month suspension imposed on Gabriel Barbosa Almeida by the Brazilian Anti-Doping Court is suspended until the conclusion of the CAS arbitration.”
The attacker was suspended on March 25th for two years by the TJD-AD (Anti-Doping Court of Sports Justice). At trial, Gabriel was found guilty of attempted fraud in an anti-doping test. There were five votes in favor of the punishment and four votes against.
The athlete was reported by the TJD-AD in December 2023, starting the case.
The penalty began to be valid retroactively from April 2023, when the attempt to cheat on the exam took place, valid until April 2025
With the hook, Gabriel could no longer train for Flamengo or use the facilities at Ninho do Urubu.
The athlete’s defense sent material on January 26th, while the Flamengo squad was doing pre-season in the United States. An attachment was sent with images from the CT Ninho do Urubu security camera to corroborate Gabigol’s version of innocence.
What did Gabigol do in the doping test?
Flamengo’s number 10 was accused of making it difficult to take the anti-doping test on April 8, 2023, at Ninho do Urubu.
One of the reports in the complaint says that the player took a long time to carry out the process and did not comply with the officers’ instructions.
The other Rubro-Negro players took the exam before training at 10am.
According to those responsible for carrying out the exam, Gabigol did not address the professionals before training and, after the activity, he ignored the agents and went to lunch, treating the team with disrespect and not following the indicated procedure.
He then took the collection vessel without informing any of the officers and was irritated to see that he was accompanied by one of those responsible for the examination to the bathroom. He then handed the collector open, contrary to instructions.
Versions that will be decisive in the release attempt
Gabigol’s defense had been trying to release him via suspensive effect since the beginning of April, as revealed by the ESPN. And two versions were seen as decisive for reversing the hook.
As pointed out by ESPNthe attacker’s defense was based on possible contradictions in the testimonies of agents in the TJD-AD (Anti-Doping Court of Sports Justice) trial, supported by internal images from the Flamengo CT on the day of the exam, April 8, 2023 .
ABCD (Brazilian Doping Control Authority), on the other hand, as responsible for the test, states that Gabigol failed to comply with crucial procedures for the test to be valid, which meant that agents were unable to guarantee the integrity of the sample, or that is, that the urine was in fact his.
This is the main reason why he was punished for attempting to cheat an anti-doping test, regardless of the final negative result.
ABCD’s version is that, when the agents arrived for the tests, all the athletes who would also be tested made themselves available for collection, as determined by the procedure. Gabigol was the only one who said he would do his training first, which still does not constitute an irregularity.
In this matter, there is a possible contradiction that Gabigol’s defense intends to explore. Because, in testimony, one of the agents would have stated that the professionals arrived before the athlete, which would be contradicted by the internal circuit of Ninho do Urubu – in Flamengo’s version, the attacker arrives at 8 am, and the officers arrive at around 9 am.
According to international technical procedures, it is not a problem for Gabigol to train before the test. The only issue is that, due to the type of analysis that would be performed, it would be necessary to wait a two-hour interval for blood collection. And it is during this period that the attacker’s failures occur.
A source interviewed by the report states that there were several procedures not observed by Gabigol, which meant that the agents were unable to confirm, at the end of the process, that the urine was in the required conditions. This invalidates the test – therefore, the negative test result had little bearing on the trial – and leads to the accusation of attempted fraud – and subsequent suspension.
In relation to this point, the defense also wants to demonstrate a possible contradiction in the version presented by the agents interviewed. This is because, according to sources present at the trial, an ABCD officer reported that he saw urine coming out of Gabigol’s urethra at the time of collection.
With this point, the athlete’s representatives understand that there is CAS jurisprudence that would favor the argument. In past cases, the court punished cases of mixing urine with water for fraud, for example, not for bad behavior, as would be the case with Gabigol.
Internally, Flamengo also recognizes that Gabigol’s style of not treating collection as a priority irritated professionals. However, this does not prevent the club from questioning the terms of the complaint, especially with the times and contradictions in the statements. ABCD counters this view, ensuring the preparation of its agents to deal with this type of behavior, which is not exclusive to the attacker.
Gabigol’s defense was in a hurry to take the request for a suspensive effect to CAS, as they understood that this is the only move capable of making the attacker return to playing while still under his current contract with Flamengo, which ends in December. This is because the judgment of the appeal itself should not take place before the end of the 2024 season.
