Fifteen Premier League stars fail drug tests but not ONE is banned

88 footballers in Britain return positive samples – but details of cases are withheld.

premier league footballs
BY EDMUND WILLISON

At least 15 Premier League footballers failed drugs tests between 2015 and 2020, The Mail on Sunday can reveal, and none of them was given any kind of ban.

Twelve of those tested positive for banned performance-enhancing substances, with one still being investigated five months after the initial test and no sanction having been issued.

In total 88 footballers from England, Wales and Scotland failed doping tests, returning ‘adverse analytical findings’, when drug-tested between 2013 to 2020.

The revelations can only now be published after The Mail on Sunday made a series of Freedom of Information requests which took three times longer than they should have to be processed by the UK Anti-Doping agency (UKAD).

The dozen cases of performance-enhancing drugs included one positive test for an amphetamine and three findings of triamcinolone, the corticosteroid that Sir Bradley Wiggins used to treat hay fever before his Tour de France victory.

The Premier League cases also included four positives for the stimulant Ritalin and one for the testosterone booster Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG), a hormone often abused in cycling and mixed martial arts. (continue reading on The Mail on Sunday where this article was published).

Edmund Willison is a journalist and filmmaker focussing on doping and corruption in sport. You can follow him on Twitter @honestsport_ew or contact him at edmund.willison@honestsport.com.