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.

Which tournaments will Onana miss?

Onana is banned from all football, meaning he will not be available for Ajax's domestic or European matches, including their Europa League campaign this season. They face Lille in the last 32 later this month.

He will also be unavailable for Cameroon until February 2022, including the Africa Cup of Nations - should they qualify - which has been rescheduled to January next year. The final two games of their qualifying campaign are in March, away to Cape Verde and home to Rwanda.

What does this mean for Onana's future?
The 24-year-old former Barcelona youngster has been among the most in-demand goalkeepers in European football, with Borussia Dortmund recently making plans to sign him at the end of the season.

Onana, whose contract at Ajax expires in 2022, has also been a target for Chelsea, Tottenham, and his former club at Camp Nou.

It adds to a bad week for Ajax, who on Friday morning also confirmed that record signing Sebastian Haller is unavailable for their Europa League fixtures for the rest of the season after an administration error meant he was not registered in their squad in time.

They will also lose promising young striker Brian Brobbey in the summer, with it confirmed this week that the 19-year-old will not sign a new contract at Johan Cruyff ArenA.

Ajax Statement: UEFA bans Andre Onana for twelve months

The disciplinary body of the European football association, UEFA, has imposed a suspension of 12 months on Andre Onana for a doping violation. After an "out of competition" check on October 30 last year, the goalkeeper found the substance Furosemide in his urine. The suspension is effective from today and applies to all football activities, both national and international.

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 Sport (CAS).

Managing director Edwin van der Sar: “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. ”