In a major blow to Hamburg and Croatia U21 defender Mario Vuskovic, he has been banned for two years from football after testing positive for the performance-boosting drug EPO.

First-time offender, Vuskovic tested positive for a small amount of EPO, a banned substance. The test results were confirmed by external doping experts outside Germany. The 21-year-old defender joined Hamburg in 2021 and has made 16 second division appearances this season, scoring two goals.

Despite Hamburg appealing the decision made by the German Football Association (DFB), Vuskovic’s A and B samples tested positive for a substance foreign to the body, identified as EPO.

DFB’s sports court head Stephan Oberholz confirmed the presence of EPO in Vuskovic’s samples, even in reduced amounts. The player had no valid justification to disprove the doping accusations.

Hamburg defender Mario Vuskovic (right) has been banned for two years for doping

DFB found Vuskovic guilty of doping but classified it as a first-time offense. To avoid negatively impacting the player’s career development due to a long suspension, the DFB officials opted for a two-year ban instead of a severe punishment.

This ban came into effect from November 15, 2022, when he was suspended following his positive drug test taken in September 2022.