05/02/2021
OFFICIAL: UEFA ban Ajax and Cameroonian goalkeeper Andre Onana for twelve months after failing drug test
Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana has been handed a 12-month suspension for failing an out-of-competition doping test, with the club claiming their number one accidentally took medicine prescribed for his wife.
The Eredivisie club revealed the Cameroon international has been banned by UEFA after it found the forbidden substance Furosemide in his urine, following the test in October 2020.
The doping suspension is effective from February 5 and applies to all football activities.
Ajax released a statement saying :
On the morning of October 30, Onana was feeling unwell. He wanted to take a pill to ease the discomfort. Unknowingly, however, he took Lasimac, a drug that his wife had previously been prescribed. Onana’s confusion resulted in him mistakenly taking his wife's medicine, ultimately causing this measure to be taken by UEFA against the goalkeeper.
Furthermore, the disciplinary body of the football association has stated that Onana had no intention of cheating. However, the European Football Association believes, on the basis of the applicable anti-doping rules, that an athlete has a duty at all times to ensure that no banned substances enter the body.
Onana and Ajax will appeal the decision to the Court Of Arbitration For Sports - CAS .
Ajax Director of Football Edwin van der Sar said : “We explicitly renounce performance-enhancing drugs, we obviously 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 years and is very popular with the fans. We had hoped for a conditional suspension or for a suspension much shorter than these twelve months, because it was arguably not intended to strengthen his body and thus improve his performance. ”