Chelsea, under the successful tenureship of Enzo Maresca, became the first team in football history to win all three UEFA competitions on Wednesday night after beating Real Betis 4-1 in the Europa Conference League final – and whether the suspended Mykhailo Mudryk received a winners’ medal, however, has now been revealed.
It looked to be a long night for boss Maresca and his entourage early on in Wrocław, Poland after the La Liga outfit scored within nine minutes – and it took until the second half for the Blues to respond. Respond they did as the affair ended with a three-goal cushion.
The inevitable Cole Palmer, Jadon Sancho and Moises Caicedo were all pivotal to the west Londoners' Europa Conference League triumph, though the aforementioned Mudryk was not involved as he remains provisionally suspended for a failed drugs test – but did he get a medal?
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Will Mudryk Receive a Conference League Medal?
The Ukrainian winger didn't join his teammates on the podium
Mudryk, who arrived in west London from Shakhtar Donetsk in January 2023, has been placed on temporary suspension after failing a doping test. The Ukrainian winger, 24, last played on November 28 as he scored in a 2-0 win over Heidenheim.
As things stand, there is no set date for his return to football. GIVEMESPORT’s Fabrizio Romano has reported, however, that his long-term future in the English capital is dependent on the sentence and when it is made.
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According to talkSPORT, irrespective of the outcome of the Conference League final, Mudryk was eligible for a medal, whether it be gold or silver. In a report, it was suggested that the Football Association-imposed ban had no impact on whether he could join his fellow teammates on the podium.
“All players fielded (or staff on official lists) in the Conference League are eligible to go to the podium, and this doesn’t change even though Mudryk is still provisionally banned by The FA. It is up to Chelsea whether to award Mudryk his medal pitch-side or privately."
Footage from the wide man’s Instagram story suggested that he had watched a sea of blue shirts lift the trophy aloft from the stands instead of rubbing shoulders with the trophy winners. Therefore, questions about his eligibility for a medal arose amid the post-match celebrations.
That said, Mudryk – one of the fastest Premier League players in the 2024/25 season – was later pictured with a medal around his neck as he posed alongside a grinning Fernandez, the scorer of Chelsea’s first goal on Wednesday night, which would suggest that the Premier League outfit gave him one.
Before being suspended on a temporary basis, the speedster appeared five times across the qualifying play-off round and league phase of the Conference League. In that time, proving that European competition could be his forte, he scored three goals and provided four assists.