DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine goalkeeper Oleksandr Rybka will miss the European Championship after receiving a two-year doping ban from UEFA.
Rybka, who plays for club team Shakhtar Donetsk, tested positive for a banned diuretic in November, one month after making his national team debut.
Shakhtar says it will appeal against the “extraordinarily harsh sentence.”
The club says the ban “does not fully correspond to the scale of the footballer’s offense.”
Shakhtar officials told local media that Rybka used the diuretic to lose weight, but didn’t tell club doctors.
Ukraine is co-hosting the Euro 2012 tournament with Poland and will play France and England in Rybka’s home stadium in June. The group also includes Sweden.
