Shakhtar Donetsk goalkeeper Olexandr Rybka has lost his last hope of playing at Euro 2012 in his home country of Ukraine after the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Shakhtar's appeal against a two-year doping ban for the player, the club said Monday.
Rybka was handed the maximum penalty in January after he tested positive for a banned diuretic following a league match against Karpaty Lviv in November.
The appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was Shakhtar's last chance to overturn the decision of UEFA's Appeals Committee that provided for the ban.
"The UEFA Appeals Committee’s decision remains in force, providing for the goalkeeper’s two-year suspension," Shakhtar said in a statement.
UEFA has since refused to reduce the term, which bans Rybka from playing anywhere in Europe, and requested that FIFA extend the sanction to worldwide competition.
Rybka, 24, has played 25 Ukrainian league and Champions League games for Shakhtar since joining from Obolon Kiev last summer, and was a member of the Dynamo Kiev side that won the 2007 Ukrainian title.
He has won two caps for Ukraine, the last of them against Germany in November, and had widely been tipped to feature in the Euro 2012 squad.
The court's decision leaves co-hosts Ukraine in the midst of a goalkeeping crisis, with Olexander Shovkovsky of Dynamo Kiev and Andriy Dikan of Spartak Moscow both ruled out with injuries.
Rybka's Shakhtar teammate Andriy Pyatov, who has 24 caps, is the only fit regular goalkeeper for Ukraine.
