The FA has today published details in relation to a breach of its Anti-Doping Regulations by Nathaniel Mendez-Laing.
The Middlesbrough FC player provided an in-competition urine sample to The FA via UK Anti-Doping officials on 04 July 2020 while playing for Cardiff City FC and it was found to contain metabolites of cocaine once subsequently analysed.
Cocaine is classified as a prohibited substance in-competition by the World Anti-Doping Agency [WADA], therefore Nathaniel Mendez-Laing was charged by The FA for a breach of its Anti-Doping Regulations and provisionally suspended on 14 August 2020.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing admitted the charge but was able to explain that the substance had been ingested out-of-competition in a context that was unrelated to sporting performance. An independent Regulatory Commission was subsequently convened to decide an appropriate sanction and, in line with the revised 2021 WADA Code that permits reduced sanctions for ‘Substances of Abuse’, applied a back-dated three-month suspension from 14 August 2020.
The FA does not disclose details in relation to breaches of its Anti-Doping Regulations until all processes and appeal windows have concluded. As such, the independent Regulatory Commission’s written reasons for this sanction can also now be found below.
