Soccer: Frank De Boer fails drugs test

Frank de Boer has confirmed he failed a drugs test after a Uefa Cup match last month.

The Barcelona defender "tested positive for nandrolone" after the club's quarter-final first leg at Celta Vigo on March 15.

De Boer is the third high-profile international to fail a drugs test in a month.

His international team-mate, Edgar Davids, tested positive after an Italian league match while Portugal captain Fernando Couto has been suspended pending this week's hearing with the Italian Olympic committee (CONI) anti-doping commission.

But the Dutch international insists that he is innocent, and is determined to clear his name.

De Boer said on his personal website www.icons.com: "I tested positive for nandrolone in an anti-doping test.

"I would like to say I am a professional sportsman and have never knowingly used an illegal drug or a forbidden substance under any circumstance.

"Let that be clear. I have never used nor ever will any drug or any banned steroid."

De Boer suggested that he may have failed the test because the drug was in his food or drink without his knowledge.

"I can't check all my food and drink," he said.

"Although I can control most of what I eat and drink, it's impossible to check everything.

"I know that in your own body there is a certain amount of nandrolone, but I don't know if that is what happened here.

"Basically I don't know how it has got into my blood.

"There is going to be a second test soon and I sincerely hope that this will clarify the situation and prove my innocence.

"This has been a great disappointment to me and I am determined to show that I have done nothing wrong."