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MARIO VUŠKOVIĆ (22) was expelled from football until the fall of 2026. Since he was suspended from November 2022, it will be considered as if he was banned from football for four years. At the moment, it is not clear if this means the end of the contract with the club from Hamburg, where he has a contract until 2025.
Mario is the older brother of Hajduk’s most expensive player, Luka Vušković (17), whom Hajduk sold to Tottenham last year, and is currently on loan at Westerlo, Belgium. Mario also explored all the youth ranks of Hajduk and played 48 games for the first team. In 2021, HSV loaned him 1.2 million euros, and then bought him back, according to Transfermarkt, for another three million euros.
How did it come about?
We remind you that in March 2023, the court of the German Football Association (DFB) in Frankfurt found Vušković guilty of doping and suspended him for two years. Vušković’s lawyers asked for an acquittal, while the German National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) asked to increase the suspension from two to four years.
“As a result of the procedure, the sports court of the DFB is convinced with sufficient certainty that the analysis of samples A and B of the player’s urine shows the presence of exogenous erythropoietin, EPO for short. This is about the prohibited called to a non-specific substance, which constitutes a punishable violation of the DFB’s anti-doping regulations,” said Stephan Oberholz, president of the DFB’s sports court, at the time.
Vušković’s statement on the day of the doping test
The trial was not open to the public, but Bild obtained a recording of the ten-minute statement made by Vušković. About September 16, the day when the sample was positive for EPO in the doping test, he said: “It was a normal training session before the match. We had a meeting and an hour of intensive training. The training under the guidance of our coach (Tim Walter, op. a.) is always as intense as a game.
Normally, I would have gone to the gym afterwards, but the doping controllers came for me and my teammate (Xavier Amaechi, op. a.) and told us to go with them to the doping control room. Five minutes after training I gave half of the urine sample. Then we chatted and drank water, and about 15 minutes later I gave the required amount.”
When asked by his lawyer Tomislav Kasal what happened next, Vušković, according to Bild, answered in a “shaky voice”: “After that I trained and played matches, and that was it.” During that time I was tested twice and both were negative. ” Bild described how “Vušković buried his head in his hands, tried to regain his composure, breathing hard, drinking water” and finally sat down and said “it’s okay”.
“I was joking, I said that I wish it wasn’t corona because I already have it. But he told me: ‘You are positive for doping'”
Vušković continued on November 11: “I came to the HSV building with my advisors, we wanted to talk to the sports director about the situation. Actually, that’s a good thing. I think I played well and we want to talk about a new contract. Later, I got ready for training, and within five minutes the sports director Jonas Boldt called me and told me to come to him immediately.
I thought they agreed on something good. Then my counselor told me I was positive. I was joking, I said that I wish it wasn’t corona because I already have it. But he told me: ‘You are positive for doping.’ I replied, ‘That’s not right. I’ve never taken anything or done anything like that in my life.’ He said, ‘You’re positive for EPO.’ I don’t know what EPO is, that’s what I heard for the first time.”
No one in the room knew what EPO was”
Bild described how Vušković sat down again and cried for about 30 seconds. He then continued: “No one in the room knows what EPO is. We called the doctor, who confirmed everything. I went down and did the training, but in my head I was in a very different place. When we got back, the police were waiting for me in the dressing room. They said: ‘You must come alone, let the others wait outside.’
This is amazing. Everyone was looking at me as if I had done something wrong. But I didn’t do anything and I don’t know what happened. They took my cellphone and other things from the dressing room. They were also at my house, where my boyfriend was alone. The team manager gave me a cell phone and said my girlfriend needed me.
There were three strangers at our house with a search warrant. They found nothing, like the club. I don’t know what they are looking for. They took pictures of all the rooms and my girlfriend. They took my iPad and another cell phone, as well as personal items like toothpaste and creams. When we finished the club, I wanted to go home to talk to my family.
Then two policemen were waiting outside the office and said: ‘Don’t touch anything, we have to check the car.’ They also said: ‘You must come with us to the police station.’ I waited for several hours until the doctor came to take blood and urine samples, which were also negative. Then I went home, I wanted to talk to my family. I still don’t know what exactly happened.”
“I will never do what I am accused of”
Vusković’s lawyer asked him how his life changed after that. “This is an absolute nightmare. As I said for the first time (in front of the DFB court, op. a.), I would not wish even on my worst enemy to go through what my family went through in a year and a half. I know how to play football, and now they’re taking that away from me,” he replied.
At the end of the report from the trial, Bild reported that Kasalo asked him “are you a fraud”, to which he said: “No, I will never do what I am accused of.” The court obviously disagreed with that.
