Key challenges facing athletes in contaminated supplement cases: A review of the Arijan Ademi decision

Mr. Arijan Ademi (hereinafter: the Appellant or the Player) is a Croatian-born football player who is registered with football club GNK Dinamo and a national team player of FYR Macedonia.

On 16 September 2015, the Player underwent a doping control test following the UEFA Champions League match between GNK Dinamo and Arsenal FC in Zagreb, Croatia. A few weeks later, on 7 October 2015, the Player was notified by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited “Laboratoire Suisse d´Analyse du Dopage” (the Lausanne laboratory) of an Adverse Analytical Finding[1] for stanozolol metabolites in his 16 September 2015 sample. Stanozolol is an anabolic steroid that is a non-specified substance and is prohibited at all times, both in- and out-of-competition (see WADA Prohibited List).

On 20 October 2015, the Lausanne laboratory notified the Player that the B-sample analysis confirmed the result of the A-sample for stanozolol metabolites. At this point, because the Player was certain he never intentionally doped, he started to doubt all the people around him including his friends and family, but eventually he decided to commence legal proceedings in order to get to the truth and minimize his impending sanction. 

This article reviews the Player’s case. Specifically it looks at:

• The proceedings before the Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body of UEFA;
  
  
• The proceedings before the UEFA Appeals Body;
  
  
• The proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport;
  
  
• Authors’ comments

Please note that both authors were counsel for the Player in his appeal process.