Ajax goalkeeper, Andre Onana, 24, has been suspended for 12 months by UEFA after he failed a doping test last October.
The
suspension is effective as of February 5, and will apply to all football
activities at both national and international level.
The substance
furosemide was discovered in the Cameroon international's urine in an out of
competition test on 31 October last year, but Ajax claim Onana took it
"unwittingly" after feeling unwell.
"On the
morning of 30 October Onana did not feel well. He wanted to take a tablet.
Unwittingly, however, he took Lasimac, a drug that his wife had previously been
prescribed," an Ajax statement said.
Ajax said
they would appeal the ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The club
added: "Onana made a mistake with the product and mistakenly took his
wife's medicine, which ultimately led to UEFA's action against the goalkeeper.
The football association's disciplinary body ruled that he did not intend to
cheat. However, the European Football Association believes that, according to
the prevailing anti-doping rules, an athlete has a duty at all times to ensure
that no prohibited substances enter the body."
Onana and
Ajax will appeal the ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Ajax's
managing director Edwin van der Sar said: "We explicitly renounce
performance-enhancing drugs; we stand for a clean sport. This is a terrible
setback, for Andre himself but certainly also for us as a club.
"Andre
is a top goalkeeper who has proven his worth for Ajax for many years and is
very popular with the fans. We had hoped for a conditional suspension or a much
shorter one than this twelve months, because it was demonstrably not meant to
strengthen his body and thus improve his performance."
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