"A surprising end disrupts Ramadan Sobhi's journey... and a step that could ensure his continuation."

The case dates back to 2024 when unusual results emerged from a doping test that Ramadan Sobhi underwent, leading to a temporary suspension in May of that year.

In March 2024, Jamal Allam, then president of the Egyptian Football Association, announced that the Egyptian Anti-Doping Organization had informed the federation of a positive result in the player's sample.

However, the case did not end there. After reviewing the file with the Egyptian Anti-Doping Organization, it was decided in July 2024 to lift the suspension on the player, a decision that opened the door for his return to matches.

Yet, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) contested this decision and opted to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, moving the case into a new phase.

On November 26, 2025, the Court of Arbitration for Sport issued its ruling in the case, imposing a 4-year suspension on Ramadan Sobhi after considering WADA's appeal against the previous Egyptian decision.

According to the Egyptian Anti-Doping Organization, the ruling was linked to violations of anti-doping rules, including issues related to tampering with the sample collection process.

The case then moved to the Swiss Federal Court, which accepted the player's appeal on procedural grounds and continued to review it, allowing relevant parties, including CAS and WADA, the opportunity to respond to the player's defense before issuing its ruling today to reject the appeal and uphold the suspension.

Potential European Path

According to sports regulations expert Mohamed Fadlallah, the Swiss Federal Court's rejection of the appeal does not necessarily mean there are no further legal moves available.

Fadlallah explained to Sky News Arabia that Ramadan Sobhi may have the option to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, but this is not a direct route to contest the suspension and requires meeting a set of legal conditions.

He noted that among these conditions is that the player must have clearly raised before the Swiss Federal Court the arguments related to the right to a fair trial as stipulated in Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, in addition to exhausting domestic appeal routes according to Article 35 of the Convention, "keeping in mind that no appeal can be accepted before Strasbourg unless it has been raised before the Swiss judiciary."

He cited the European Court of Human Rights' findings in the case of South African athlete Caster Semenya, which addressed the relationship between the rulings of the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Swiss Federal Court's review of them, adding: "The European Court of Human Rights has affirmed in several previous cases its jurisdiction to consider appeals related to the rulings of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which are reviewed by the Swiss Federal Court as concluded in the Semenya case (Grand Chamber, 2023)."

Final Ruling
Conversely, sports regulations expert Amer Al-Amaira offers a different perspective, stating in remarks to Sky News Arabia that the ruling issued by the Swiss Federal Court is final, and any new moves against the decision would not be fruitful.

He argued that continuing with additional legal proceedings would mean, in his view, incurring expenses and wasting more time.