Two English-based footballers have tested positive for cocaine and ecstasy in the last three months, a report on the UK Sport website said on Saturday.
UK Sport, the government's anti-doping agency, released its quarterly results of drug tests in the wake of Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand's failure to give a sample and British sprinter Dwain Chambers testing positive for steroid THG.
The names and clubs of the footballers involved have not been released by UK Sport or the Football Association but they are among 272 footballers from the top five divisions in England, tested between July 1st and September 30th.
Russell Langley, spokesman for UK Sport said: "It is not up to the governing body to name names, they are not obliged to.
But FA spokesman Adrian Bevington told Reutersthey had a policy in the past of naming players who failed drug tests.
"Depending on the outcome of particular cases, we may well release names," he said. "But it is a tiny proportion. It is a sign our drug testing programme is working.
Bevington also said he was pleased there were no findings of performing-enhancing drugs in football.
"We are the highest tested sport in the country and we have far fewer positives than other sports," he said. UK Sport also said yesterday they would begin testing footballers for THG, the previously undetectable steroid.
The use of drugs within English football has never been seen as a widescale problem but former Chelsea and Manchester United goalkeeper Mark Bosnich was banned for nine months and fined after testing positive for cocaine last year.
Also in 1994, Newcastle midfielder Lee Bowyer, then with Charlton, failed a training ground test for cannabis. The BBCaired a programme in May which alleged 150 professional footballers were playing under the influence of performance-enhancing drugs, but these claims were never proved.