Lausanne - Brazilian-born Portugal player Deco has been cleared of doping because of faulty testing by a Rio de Janeiro laboratory which has since been suspended from World Cup duty.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport says a settlement between Deco, the Brazilian football federation and FIFA annulled his one-year ban imposed last September.
The lab is further discredited after being suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency last August.
It was dropped from World Cup testing, forcing FIFA to fly samples to Lausanne.
The case against Deco collapsed when his samples were re-tested in Lausanne.
The CAS ruling says: “It could not be established that (Deco) has committed an anti-doping rule violation.”
The 36-year-old retired player allegedly tested positive for hydrochlorothiazide and tamoxifen in early 2013.
Sapa-AP