The Disciplinary Committee of the Mexican football federation (FMF) has banned Julio Cesar Nava García for eight months, following an adverse analytical finding for betamethasone, a glucocorticoid steroid often used to treat skin conditions. In a statement, the FMF said that the player, who appeared for the U23 national team, had been banned for ‘violating the provisions of Article 6 of FIFA’s Anti-Doping Regulations and therefore may not participate in any competition or activity organised or authorised by the FMF’. The suspension runs from 27 December last year, when García was provisionally suspended, to 27 August 2015.

Betamethasone does not feature directly on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Prohibited List, however WADA told the Sports Integrity Initiative that it is banned under Section S9 of the List, but the ban is “dependent on the concentration detected”. Section S9 reads: ‘All glucocorticoids are prohibited when administered by oral, intravenous, intramuscular or rectal routes’. García was sanctioned under Article 6 of FIFA’s Anti-Doping Regulations, which deals with the presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolites or markers in a player’s sample. Betamethasone is also listed by some organisations as a prohibited substance that may appear in contaminated supplements.

The FMF also said that it would be investigating Juan Manuel Gálvez and Ariel Rojas Mejia Melchor, club doctors at García’s team, Chiapas, which plays in Mexico’s top division, the Liga MX. Once the investigation into whether further anti-doping rules have been breached is completed, the FMF will decide whether to open further disciplinary proceedings.