Kevin van Essen, who plays for Dutch second tier (Eerste Divisie) club SC Telstar, tested positive for furosemide on 8 May, announced the Dutch football association (KNVB). ‘The counter-analysis has yielded a positive result’, read a statement issued yesterday. ‘The KNVB board of professional football has now reported the doping matter to the central disciplinary committee of the KNVB’.

Both the KNVB and SC Telstar said that they would offer no further comment on the case until a decision on sanctioning has been taken. Furosemide is a diuretic used to treat heart failure, among other conditions. It features on Section S5 of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Prohibited List, as it can be used as a masking agent to hide the use of other substances.