FRENCH top-flight star Ibrahima Niane has landed a two-year ban from football after testing positive for ecstasy.
The striker has scored three goals in 27 games this season to help minnows Angers keep their place in Ligue 1.
But France’s anti-doping agency AFLD has now banned Niane, 26, until April 2027 after drug tests found he had taken ecstasy and MDMA.
Angers had already banished him from their first-team squad after he injured a teammate in a training-ground clash in early April.
He has since become one of seven first-teamers released by the western club, who finished 14th in France’s 18-team top flight.
Senegal-born Niane’s contract with the Loire-region club is due to expire this summer.
He recently returned to his west African home country to consider his options.
The AFLD said Niane may not “participate in any form of professional competition”.
That includes “any form of activity, training camps or friendly matches.”
Angers announced: “Initially signed on loan from Metz on 31 January 2023, Ibrahima Niane joined Angers SCO on a permanent contract the following summer.
“The Senegalese striker scored six goals and supplied three assists in 76 games in all competitions”
Former Senegal Under-20 international Niane helped Metz win promotion to Ligue 1 before moving to Angers.
Niane amassed a total of six goals and three assists in 76 appearances during his two-year stint at Angers.
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