The confirmation of Papu Gomez’s positive doping test opened the debate: can Argentina lose its world champion title and, if so, France be crowned?
The affair continues to make a lot of noise in Argentina. Among the 23 players crowned in Qatar, Papu Gomez tested positive for a banned product shortly before the start of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. And if the Monza player proclaims his innocence by explaining that he only took a children’s syrup while he was ill without taking the trouble to consult the Sevilla FC doctors, the sanction risks being very heavy for the Argentine midfielder.
A two-year suspension is thus mentioned. A punishment which should be accompanied by the loss of his world champion title won with Argentina last December. In article 26 of its regulations, Fifa indeed stipulates that “en addition to the automatic cancellation of the results obtained in the match during which a positive sample was collected under para. 1 of this article, all other competition results obtained by the player from the date of collection of the positive sample (in competition or out of competition), or the commission of another violation of the anti-doping rules, are canceled , with all the resulting consequences, until the start of the provisional suspension or suspension, unless other treatment is justified on grounds of fairness.»
The loss would be terrible for Papu Gomez, who would therefore be removed from the list of world champions, and some are wondering about the fate of Argentina. In athletics, Usain Bolt lost an Olympic title in the 4x100m when one of his colleagues was convicted of doping. The Albiceleste is for the moment protected from such misfortune since the regulations require that a collective title is only withdrawn if two or more players from the crowned team have tested positive. However, no other Argentine player was worried before the World Cup or during the competition.
If so, it is also unlikely that France would be able to regain the world champion title if Argentina were stripped of it. Like what was done when Lance Armstrong admitted his guilt, Argentina should only be removed from the list without the title being reallocated.
