Thirty-four past and present players of Essendon football club have been found guilty of doping charges after an appeal from the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (Wada).

The 34 players will reportedly miss the next 12 months due to suspension. Only 12 of the 34 remain at Essendon.

The players were initially cleared of the charges but Wada appealed in the court of arbitration in Sydney. The appeal has been upheld.

The AFL anti-doping tribunal found in March last year that there was insufficient evidence to find the players guilty of doping offences arising from the club’s controversial 2012 supplements program.

The players were accused of using banned peptide Thymosin beta-4.

“Regrettably we can confirm the Court of Arbitration for Sport has found 34 past and present players guilty of committing an anti-doping rule violation,” Essendon chairman Lindsay Tanner said.

“As a result, the players – including 12 currently listed with Essendon – have been suspended for the 2016 season. The club is currently digesting the decision and we will provide a further update later today [Tuesday].”

The decision brings to an end three years of turmoil.

In sanctions handed down in 2013, the AFL banned then-coach James Hird for 12 months, kicked Essendon out of the finals, fined the club $2million and stripped it of draft picks.

Following the CAS verdict, he club may now be forced to use top-up players from other leagues as it did during the 2015 NAB Cup when the players in question served provisional bans.

With just 12 of the 34 players still at Essendon, the rest have either been delisted, retired or traded, with Jake Carlisle, Paddy Ryder, Jake Melksham, Stewart Crameri and Angus Monfries all at Essendon in 2012 but now at other clubs.

Worsfold replaced Hird as senior coach in October after he resigned in a bid to allow the club to move on from the saga.