Top 10 soccer stars tested positive for doping

 Football is a sport with a strict doping testing policy to ensure that no player gains an advantage from the use of stimulants. Players must be extremely careful when eating and drinking to avoid getting on the list of banned substances. But accidentally or intentionally, many players have been found to have violated regulations related to doping, and have to face different penalties. Let's take a look at the Top 10 football stars who were involved in doping scandals in the past.

#1 DIEGO MARADONA

Maradona was once the focus of the doping controversy, especially when it took place at the 1994 World Cup in the United States. The late Argentine legend was sent home after testing positive for 5 variations of Ephedrine, a stimulant banned by FIFA. This is also the end of Maradona's career in the national team.

Three years before this incident happened, Maradona was also banned from competition for 15 months in 1991 for using Cocaine. Maradona struggled with Cocaine addiction long after his football career ended.

#2 PEP GUARDIOLA

In 2001, Pep Guardiola, who was still playing for Brescia in Serie A, had to spend a period of time banned from competition because he was discovered to be using the banned substance Nandrolone.

Initially, Guardiola received a four-month ban. However, after a successful appeal six years later, the charges were dropped. The Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) reopened the case against Pep, but all charges were later cleared again in 2009.

#3 ANDRE ONANA

MU's rookie when he was still playing for Ajax was discovered taking a drug containing the banned substance Furosemide in February 2021. After Onana appealed that he mistakenly took his wife's pregnancy medicine, the ban was reduced from 12 months to 9 months. However, it still left a black mark in Onana's 6-year career at the Dutch team, before he agreed to move to Inter Milan in 2022.

#4 SAMIR NASRI

While playing for Sevilla on loan from Manchester City, Nasri was discovered to be abusing the drip treatment method in the US. The treatment involved injections of vitamins within limits, however Nasri took 10 times the limit set by the World Anti-Doping Agency. UEFA's initial six-month ban was later extended to 18 months.

#5 FRED

Former MU midfielder Fred was unable to pass a doping test while attending the Copa America with the Brazilian national team in the summer of 2015. The midfielder, who was then on the payroll of Shakhtar Donetsk, confirmed that he did not dope, but did not dope. What he uses is a diuretic.

However, after nearly half a year of investigation, the Disciplinary Committee of the South American Football Federation made a final decision on the case. Accordingly, Fred is banned from playing football in all tournaments organized by CONMEBOL for 1 year and the punishment takes effect immediately.

#6 RIO FERDINAND

Rio Ferdinand did not perform MU's routine doping test on September 23, 2003. The FA representatives present at Carrington that day were very angry. They thought that Ferdinand had a problem so he deliberately avoided it. The FA then imposed a disciplinary sentence of 8 months suspension due to Ferdinand's doping test evasion.

MU CEO at that time, Mr. Maurice Watkins, explained that Ferdinand was very demanding and proactively sent a urine sample to be re-checked 2 days later but was not accepted. In the end, Ferdinand still had to serve the suspension and pay a fine of £50,000.

#7 EDGAR DAVIDS

Davids' playing career was blossoming in the early 2000s when he tested positive for Nandrolone in 2001.

Then, the former Dutch star tested positive again, this time for the anabolic steroids Norandrosterone and Noretiocolanolone after Juventus' match with Udinese on March 4, 2001. The 16-month ban given at the time would have caused him to miss the 2002 World Cup, but Davids was ultimately only banned for four months.

#8 ABEL XAVIER

Known for playing for Everton before joining Liverpool, former Portuguese international Abel Xavier got into trouble when he used Anabolic Dianabol in September 2005, just a few months after moving to Middlesbrough on a free transfer.

Xavier was banned from playing for 18 months and became the first player in the Premier League to be banned for using performance-enhancing drugs rather than recreational substances. Xavier confirmed that the banned substance came from an anti-viral drug purchased from the United States. An appeal helped reduce the ban to 12 months in June 2006, allowing him to return to the field in November of the same year.

#9 ADRIAN MUTU

Mutu is one of the most famous players in Romanian football history, but repeatedly violating the anti-drug policy has left a stain on his career.

First at Chelsea, Mutu was discovered to be using Cocaine and was banned from playing for 7 months, thereby ending his short career at the English team in 2004. By 2010, while playing for Fiorentina, Mutu was discovered to be using banned substance Sibutramine and continued to be banned from competition for 9 months.

#10 JAAP STAM

Jaap Stam was involved in a doping scandal after joining Lazio from MU in 2001, a time when Edgar Davids also violated the same thing in the doping crisis in Serie A. A drug test was conducted after the match. with Atalanta and the midfielder tested positive for the banned substance Nandrolone.

The "cornerstone" of Dutch football was suspended for 5 months and after an appeal, this player's final sentence was 4 months.