Soccer-Nagoya striker Swierczok handed four-year doping ban by AFC

(Reuters) - Nagoya Grampus striker Jakub Swierczok has been banned for four years by the Asian Football Confederation for a doping violation, the J1 League club announced.

The Poland international was provisionally suspended in December after his A sample tested positive for an illegal substance, following Nagoya's Asian Champions League quarter-final loss against Pohang Steelers from South Korea.

The club said in a statement on their website on Friday that the substance had also been detected in the 29-year-old's B sample and that he had been handed a four-year ban by the AFC, which had started on Dec. 9, 2021.

Nagoya said they are in negotiations with Swierczok's lawyer regarding his contract with the club.

The AFC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Swierczok has played six times for Poland and joined Nagoya in 2021, scoring 12 goals in 21 games in all competitions for the Japanese club prior to his suspension.