Why was Mudryk given ban in secret and what happens now?

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Mykhailo Mudryk hasn't played for Chelsea since November 2024

By Daniel Austin BBC Sport senior journalist and Nizaar Kinsella Football reporter

When news broke that Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk has begun an appeal against a four-year doping ban , many football fans immediately asked, what ban?

That is because the Football Association, who issued the ban to the Ukraine international because of an "adverse finding in a routine urine test", never announced its decision or any details of the punishment in public.

The news only became common knowledge on Wednesday because the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) announced Mudryk had taken the decision to appeal against the ban.

So why has the process been kept secret and what happens now?

When was Mudryk banned and why the secrecy?

BBC Sport has been told Mudryk was banned by the FA in January but that only a close-knit group of people around him and a…