Jose Angulo sanctioned with 4-year ban after anti-doping rule violation

One of Independiente del Valle's finest products will be unable to take the pitch until July 2020.

On Monday, Jose Angulo was sanctioned with a four-year period of ineligibility by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, as the CAS upheld an appeal filed by FIFA against the decision issued by CONMEBOL concerning the Ecuadorian centre-forward.

Angulo was tested on July 20, 2016, the day that Independiente del Valle and Atletico Nacional played out the first leg of the Copa Liberadores' final. He was found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation (cocaine) and sanctioned with a one-year period of ineligibility. But CONMEBOL's decision was replaced with a four-year ban, as the CAS Panel "determined that the facts submitted by the player did not match with the evidence produced by the scientific experts."

Angulo, Independiente del Valle's joint-top scorer in the club's run to the final of the 2016 Copa Libertadores, joined Granada CF on August 10, 2016, but was suspended by the Andalusian club 15 days later and subsequently returned to Ecuador.

In an official statement: Independiente del Valle declared: "Despite the feeling of consternation that this information has provoked, Independiente del Valle is currently working jointly with his lawyers on the options and actions that should be taken in this case.

"The club will support and back Jose in these circumstances, always valuing above all things his well-being as a person."