Athletic Bilbao defender receives 10-month ban: What are the details? | OneFootball

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Athletic Bilbao’s Yeray Alvarez has been suspended from football for 10 months after testing positive for a banned substance — though the context reveals a deeply human and medically complex situation.

The 30-year-old centre-back returned a positive test for canrenone, a diuretic classified as a potential masking agent, following Bilbao’s Europa League semi-final defeat to Manchester United in May. However, UEFA acknowledged that the presence of the substance was unintentional.

Alvarez explained that he had been regularly using medication to prevent hair loss — a side effect linked to his previous battle with testicular cancer, first diagnosed in 2016.

European football’s governing body accepted that Alvarez had not taken the substance for performance-enhancing reasons, but still found him in violation of anti-doping regulations — albeit “non-intentional”. As a result, he has been banned until April 2026, though he will be permitted to resume training in February of that year.

Having already served a provisional suspension since June, Alvarez’s sanction has been backdated. A product of the Bilbao academy, he has made 257 appearances for the club and remains a respected figure whose career has been marked by resilience both on and off the pitch.