Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana has been suspended for 12-month for failing a doping test. The disciplinary body of the European football association, UEFA, confirmed that the goalkeeper is guilty of using an illegal drug known as Furosemide.
Andre Onana was said to have failed the doping test in October 2020. According to Ajax’s defense, he mistakenly took the medicine of his wife which contained a substance that is illegal for professional athletes.
Andre Onana was allowed to play for Ajax while the investigation into the doping case lingered. The 24-year-old Cameroonian goalkeeper played against Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League on October 24. He also featured for the Eredivisie club in the return leg of the Champions League Group D tie. Liverpool won the two-legged affairs.
Besides the Champions League campaigns, Andre Onana has been featuring in all Ajax’s Eredivisie league matches. His input this season has helped Ajax to remain at the top of the Eredivisie league with 50 points in 20 league games. The club has recorded 16 wins, two draws, and two defeats this season.
Since the commencement of this season, the club has conceded just 15 goals in their 20 league games. While Andre Onana has kept 9 clean sheets so far this season.
Based on the 12 months ban slammed on the goalkeeper, he will miss the rest of the season and the first part of the 2021-2022 season. His contract with Ajax will expire in June 2022.
In reaction to the ban, Ajax said in a statement that the judgment will be appealed at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), saying that the Furosemide found in Onana’s urine was taken “unwittingly”.
Ajax statement read: “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.
“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.”
While 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.”
'We absolutely do not agree with it being so harsh.'@VdSar1970 about @AndreyOnana’s suspension of 12 months.
— AFC Ajax (@AFCAjax) February 5, 2021
