HSV defender Mario Vuskovic (21) is in the dock of the DFB sports court on the second day of the trial. He continues to protest his innocence. © Frank Rumpenhorst/dpa
The lawyers for the HSV defender presented four reports on Thursday to challenge the Croatian’s positive doping test for the blood doping agent erythropoietin (Epo).
The DFB court, chaired by Stephan Oberholz, has now appointed the independent expert Jean-Francois Naud from Canada to get an impartial view of the complicated case.
“There are still unresolved circumstances and questions,” said Oberholz, explaining the decision. “We want to clarify in a careful and usual depth.” The process is scheduled to continue on March 10th.
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The experts paid for by HSV and Vuskovic all came to the conclusion that mistakes had been made in the analysis process and the interpretation of the facts at the Institute for Doping Analysis and Sports Biochemistry.
“From my point of view, the probability is 80 to 90 percent that the sample is falsely positive,” said the expert and endocrinologist Lorenz Hofbauer from Dresden.
Institute director Sven Voss from Kreischau rejected the fact that the positive Epo finding could be due to errors in the laboratory. “According to all the criteria that we have met, I would give the sample a hundred percent positive,” said Voss.
Vuskovic tested positive at a training check on September 16, 2022 and was then temporarily suspended. He protests his innocence.
The 14-time U21 national player of Croatia switched from Hajduk Split to HSV in the summer of 2021 and became a regular player over the course of the past season. He played 16 out of 17 first round games this season.
First report: February 9, 6:05 a.m. Updated: 4:49 p.m