The football world was shocked on Friday afternoon after it was revealed by The Telegraph that former Tottenham midfielder Jake Livermore has tested positive for the class-A drug cocaine.
SEE ALSO:
Jake Livermore cocaine: Twitter explodes as Hull man caught with class-A in system
Chelsea face European giants in battle to sign Ajax youngster
Premier League star and England international tests positive for cocaine
The Hull City man is not the first professional footballer to have been caught taking drugs and we have picked out take five others that have been caught and banned by the authorities for breaking the rules:
5) Mark Bosnich
The former Manchester United stopper was banned for nine months in the during the 2003/04 season as he tested positive for cocaine and saw his contract immediately terminated by Chelsea, who he was playing for at the time.
4) Jaap Stam
Jaap Stam tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone whilst playing for Serie A outfit Lazio, just weeks after being sold by Manchester United in 2001.
The Dutchman was handed a five-month ban which was later reduced to four upon an appeal.
3) Kolo Toure
The former Arsenal defender was banned for six months whilst playing for Manchester City in 2011 as he claimed to have mistakenly taken some of his wife’s diet pills.
2) Adrian Mutu
The Romanian was one of the first signings under the Roman Abramovich era in 2003 and after a great start to his career is West London, his time ended abruptly when he tested positive for cocaine.
The Blues sacked him soon after finding out the news and he was handed a seven-month suspension.
1) Diego Maradona
Argubaly the most high-profile name on this list in the Argentine legend, who tested positive for cocaine in 1991 which led to a 15 month ban whilst he was playing for Serie A side Napoli.
He failed another test during the 1994 World Cup and was handed another lengthy ban, in a major blot on his legendary career.