The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Thursday announced that two Italian footballers have been banned for one year for a doping violation.

Daniele Mannini, 25, and Davide Possanzini, 32, had originally been suspended for 15 days after being found guilty by the disciplinary committee (GUI) of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) of non-cooperation with anti-doping officials after a Serie B game of their club Brescia against Chievo.

Mannini has since moved to Serie A club Napoli.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) filed an appeal with CAS against the decision and called for a suspension of between one and two years.

In a statement CAS said that their panel believed the behaviour of the players at the time of the anti-doping control amounted to a violation of the World Anti-Doping Code (failure to submit to sample collection).

"By ignoring this fact, the GUI misapplied the rules, and in turn, applied the wrong sanction. The CAS panel found that the appropriate sanction in this case for a first violation is two years ineligibility.

"This sanction can be reduced to no less than one-half, i. e. to one year ineligibility, if the athlete bears no significant fault or negligence.

"On the basis of the very particular circumstances of this dispute, the panel ruled that although the players remain at fault, they were entitled to benefit from a finding of `no significant fault, allowing their sanction to be reduced to one half of the minimum period of two years ineligibility otherwise applicable.

"In light of this, the CAS panel has decided to suspend the players for a period of one year, commencing on the date of the CAS decision, less the period of fifteen days ineligibility that has already been served by the players," the statement said.