The National Anti-Doping Center of Ukraine (NADCU) has suspended Shakhtar Donetsk captain Darijo Srna until August 22, 2018 for the use of banned drugs, reads a report posted on the NADCU's website.

According to the results of out-of-competition testing conducted on March 22, 2017, the sample of the Croatian footballer had "atypical figures of elements of an endogenous steroid profile." Additional analyses showed the presence of "exogenous derivatives of dehydroepiandrosterone" in the doping test, which are included in the list of banned substances of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for 2017.

The NADCU said that after a report on September 18, 2017 about the violation of an anti-doping rule, Srna had voluntarily accepted his temporary suspension from football on September 22. He admitted that he had unintentionally violated anti-doping rules. The NADCU took into account his explanations and came to the conclusion that there was no significant guilt or negligence on the part of the athlete.

As a result, the NADCU decided to suspend Srna for 17 months. This period begins from the date the sample was taken – March 22, 2017.

"Thus, the athlete will be able to participate in competitions from August 22, 2018. The athlete can return to training with the team two months before the end of the suspension term, that is from June 22, 2018," reads the report.

This decision can be appealed in the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.