The 28-year-old tested positive in February for the banned drug furosemide.
Saudi striker Fahd Al-Muwallad was left out of his country’s squad for the 2022 World Cup hosted by Qatar on Sunday, as a “precautionary measure”, after failing a doping test earlier this year.
The 28-year-old Saudi youth team player tested positive in February for the banned drug furosemide, which can be used as a masking agent to prevent doping from being detected.
Al-Muwallad was banned from the game for 18 months last May by the Saudi Anti-Doping Committee.
Despite this, the Saudi Center for Sports Arbitration relaxed the ban in late August and ruled that the period during which the ban had been served was sufficient.
But the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed the decision and a longer ban is expected for the 28-year-old, who was banned from playing for a year in 2019, including for doping, according to local media reports. .
The World Anti-Doping Agency has referred it to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport has yet to issue a ruling.
The Saudi national team said on his Twitter account that “after reviewing the latest developments in WADA’s appeal” and after consulting with Saudi lawyers, coach Hervé Renard has decided to exclude Al-Muwallad as a “precautionary measure”.
Renard used midfielder Nawaf Al-Abed, who also plays for Al-Shabab, as a replacement for Al-Mowallad.
Saudi Arabia enter Group C alongside Argentina, Mexico and Poland in the finals, and will open their tournament against Argentina on 22 November.
