NEWS
After Doping Ban: Thousands of Fans Cheered Vuskovic's Return
Lukas Vuskovic's brother, Mario, was banned for the past four years due to a doping incident. 7,000 fans attended his return to training.
When a training session attracts several thousand fans, even former coaches and players of a club show up as spectators - then it's a special training session.
Exactly that happened on Tuesday afternoon at Hamburger SV. Mario Vuskovic (24) was allowed to participate in a training session for the first time since November 2022 on September 15.
Around 7,000 fans watched the session and applauded Vuskovic when he stepped onto the pitch. Among them were also former HSV coach Tim Walter and former Vuskovic teammates, such as Jonas Meffert or Sebastian Schonlau.
In September 2024, the Croatian was banned for two years due to doping. However, he always maintained his innocence.
"Always Believed in His Innocence"
Vuskovic was definitively banned for doping by the CAS in 2024. Not only HSV fans doubted this verdict - partly due to the controversial SAR-PAGE procedure, in which a measurement image is only interpreted optically and there is no clear measured value that allows objective results as to whether doping actually took place.
The older brother of former HSV loanee Luka Vuskovic also receives support from his team. "We all always believed in his innocence. Mario has incredibly strong character, he is a special person," says Miro Muheim.
Debut Only Possible in the Nordderby
Although Vuskovic is now allowed to train, a comeback on the pitch will only be possible in a few weeks. That will be precisely in the Nordderby against Werder Bremen.
However, the central defender remains banned until November 22. Not only is he not allowed to play. For legal reasons, according to "Kicker", he will also not give interviews, not be used for promotional purposes, and is not supposed to take autographs or selfies with fans.
