Cristian Volpato Faces Second Positive Cocaine Test, Impacting Socceroos Future

Cristian Volpato’s insistence that he was the victim of a faulty roadside drug test has been rocked by a second positive result for cocaine, piling pressure on one of the Socceroos’ breakout World Cup performers and raising serious questions about his immediate future with the national team.

The 22-year-old, who dazzled for Australia at this year’s World Cup and has started the new Serie A season brightly with Sassuolo, was stopped by police on Anzac Bridge in late July and initially returned a positive roadside test for cocaine. He denied ever taking the drug, telling those close to him he believed his drink had been spiked during a night out in Sydney’s CBD on July 21.

For weeks, he and his camp held firm. The test, they argued, had to be wrong.

Now the laboratory result has landed.

NSW Police confirmed a secondary analysis of Volpato’s oral fluid, taken after the roadside stop and processed last week, also returned a positive result for cocaine. Police said he had been issued a traffic infringement notice and fined $722.

The speeding itself was already alarming. Volpato has lost his international driver’s licence for six months after being clocked in a BMW at almost 50km/h over the speed limit on Anzac Bridge – at the same spot where he had been fined for speeding just two hours earlier. The incident came on the eve of the Italian Serie A season.

He flew back to Italy the next day and tried to let his football do the talking. Back in training with Sassuolo, he scored twice in the club’s first five league matches, seemingly parking the drama at home.

That brief sense of normality did not last.

Volpato limped off in the 38th minute of Sassuolo’s 2-2 draw with Bologna at the weekend with a hamstring injury. The setback is expected to rule him out of Australia’s high-profile friendlies against Brazil in Queensland later this month, sparing coach Tony Popovic and Football Australia from an immediate selection flashpoint.

For now.

The governing body confirmed it had been made aware of the reported secondary oral test result and said it was seeking independent verification. Any disciplinary or selection decision will hinge on that process and the legal fight Volpato appears ready to launch.

His lawyer, Paul McGirr, said the midfielder is considering appealing the fine.

“Our client has never touched cocaine and strenuously denies consuming it ever,” McGirr said.

He revealed that, immediately after the roadside incident, Volpato went to a medical facility and undertook a voluntary urinalysis which, McGirr said, showed no trace of cocaine, other drugs or alcohol. McGirr flagged that any appeal would challenge the integrity of the roadside procedure, pointing to possible contamination and the methods used to take the sample.

“We want to look at how it was done,” he said.

Sassuolo have already tried to shore up their own position. In a statement issued days after the initial positive roadside result became public, the club said Volpato had undergone further urine and blood tests on his return to Italy, and that those tests had come back negative. Cocaine, however, can clear the bloodstream and be undetectable in urine and blood within a few days, and it remains unclear exactly when those club tests were conducted.

Speaking on Tuesday, before news of the second positive sample broke, Popovic was careful not to prejudge the case or the player.

“These young men, things happen and you can get caught for something that we have to look into,” he said. “There is a process that’s playing out at the moment about that, and we need to follow that process.”

That process now sits at a crossroads. On one side, a rising Socceroo who insists he has never used cocaine, backed by negative urine and blood tests and a claim his drink was spiked. On the other, a second confirmed positive oral fluid test, a hefty speeding offence and a looming legal challenge.

For Volpato, the question is no longer just whether he plays against Brazil. It’s what this episode does to the trajectory of a career that, only a few months ago, looked set to soar.