Paul Pogba’s doping suspension has been cut to 18 months from an initial four years after an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

Cas confirmed on Friday that the French footballer’s four-year ban had been reduced and will now end in March 2025.

Pogba remains under contract with Juventus and could, in theory, make a return to action before the end of the season. Reports suggest he can resume training in January before being eligible to play from March.

“The suspension is now 18 months, starting September 11, 2023,” Cas director general Matthieu Reeb confirmed to Reuters.

The France international was provisionally suspended by Italy’s national anti-doping organisation (NADO Italia) in September 2023 after testing positive for DHEA – a banned substance that raises levels of testosterone.

The 31-year-old Pogba denied any wrongdoing and said in February he would appeal to CAS.

The doping test was performed after Juventus’s 3-0 season-opening victory in Serie A at Udinese in August of 2023.

The tribunal said it had detected prohibited “non-endogenous testosterone metabolites”, adding that the results were “consistent with the exogenous (external) origin of the target compounds”.

In a statement, Pogba said: “Finally the nightmare is over. I can look forward to the day when I can follow my dreams again.

“I always stated that I never knowingly breached World Anti-Doping Agency regulations when I took a nutritional supplement prescribed to me by a doctor, which does not affect or enhance the performance of male athletes.

“I play with integrity and, although I must accept that this is a strict liability offence, I want to place on record my thanks to the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s judges who heard my explanation.

“This has been a hugely distressing period in my life because everything I have worked so hard for has been put on hold.”

Capped 91 times by France, Pogba had made just eight league appearances in his second stint at the Turin club after returning to Juventus from Manchester United.

He spent six seasons at Old Trafford before departing on a free transfer in 2022.

Additional reporting by Reuters