Peru captain Guerrero fails in bid to overturn ban

Peru captain Paolo Guerrero will remain banned from football until next April after an appeal against his 14-month sentence was quashed by the Swiss Federal Court on Monday.

Guerrero, Peru's all-time leading scorer with 35 goals in 89 matches, tested positive for cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine after representing the Blanquirroja in a World Cup qualifier against Argentina last October. The 34-year-old says he unwittingly consumed the substance in contaminated tea.

The International striker was given a 12-month ban last December but the penalty, backdated to November, was halved less than two weeks later by FIFA's appeal committee.

However the Court of Arbitration for Sport extended the suspension by eight months on May 14 after a challenge by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The Swiss Federal Tribunal subsequently froze the ban, ruling that Guerrero "did not act intentionally or with any significant negligence."

The court said its decision also took into account the likelihood that the Russian World Cup, which was held from June 14 to July 15, would be his only chance to play in football's biggest tournament.

Guerrero played in all of Peru's three group matches in Russia and scored one goal.

The ban was reinstated by Switzerland's Supreme Court in August pending a decision by the Swiss Federal Court, the final instance in the sporting judicial system.