:quality(80)/cdn-kiosk-api.telegraaf.nl/07701902-751a-11eb-8576-02d2fb1aa1d7.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1 "Lawyer Dolf Segaar sees opportunities for André Onana: ‘Acquittal will be difficult, but punishment can be reduced’ | Football")
sport">Segaar, together with his Spanish colleague Javier Ferrero, is defending Onana, who on October 30 last year tested positive for the banned substance furosemide in an out-of-competition check. At the beginning of this year, he tried, together with the keeper, to convince UEFA through a video connection that it was a major misunderstanding.
sport">Onana said he wanted to take an aspirin but accidentally took a drug that was intended for his girlfriend. The packaging was almost identical, he was very sorry. “UEFA has gone along with that,” says Segaar. “Because otherwise he would have been suspended for 4 years. I hear people say that 1 year is not too bad, because he has his own responsibility and has been negligent. But we want to get the suspension down. ”
André Onana last came into action on 31 January during the league match against AZ.
Ⓒ HH / ANP
—
sport">Segaar knows examples of cyclists and tennis players who have been more mildly punished for similar offenses. “But UEFA is a different association than, for example, the UCI cycling union,” he says. “At the CAS they will look at three categories. Slight carelessness carries a penalty of 0 to 8 months. With an average degree of carelessness you are talking about 8 to 16 months. And with a significant degree of carelessness, you will end up between 16 and 24 months. We go for slight carelessness. ”
sport">Segaar does not yet want to say how he and his Spanish colleague Ferrero, who knows Onana from his time at Barcelona, want to get the CAS to scale the Ajax goalkeeper in that lowest category. “It does not seem right to me that I will make my plea through the press,” says the lawyer who has experience with doping cases. “I have been chairman of the doping authority and have also been on the disciplinary panel for doping cases of the international bobsleigh association.
sport">Segaar expects judgment before the summer. “Although we also look at emergency arbitration, but for that UEFA must also cooperate,” said the counsel, who is happy with the support that Onana has received from the international players’ union FIFPRO. He called the penalty ‘excessive’ and does not understand why the keeper is not even allowed to train with Ajax. “It is nice when public opinion turns to Onana, but the arbitrators of the CAS still look at the case in their own way. But they are also different arbitrators than at UEFA. We will see.”
–
Football Update
Daily the most important football news such as interviews and previews.
