The tabloid said that for legal reasons it could not name the four -- whom it said were either currently involved with England or had been in the past five years -- or a fifth player from a Premiership club who is also to be tested.

The names of all five have been passed to the drugs test agency UK Sport, the Sun said.

A Football Association source told the tabloid: "All of them can expect a knock at the door."

The five targeted for spot checks were identified by former Queen's Park Rangers player Leon Jeanne, 22, whose career was damaged by his use of cocaine, according to the Sun.

Jeanne told the paper that he saw the stars snorting the drug in London nightclubs.

The 22-year-old, once hailed as the "black George Best", lifted the lid on soccer's drug culture after seeing his career wrecked when he got hooked on snorting lines of coke.

As he poured out his heart yesterday, he said: "Footballers think they can get away with taking cocaine as it only stays in the body for 48 hours.

"If they are unlucky enough to be called in for a drugs test, it is likely to have disappeared out of them."

The five footballers he named as fellow coke users were passed by The Sun to the country's drug inspection agency UK Sport.

The names were handed over to the Football Association's chief medical officer.

Bosses at the FA's Soho Square HQ in London refused to speculate publicly about future actions against the players.

But the source said: "The FA can target-test players after receiving information.

It is the medical officer's decision. The information about these five comes from a fellow footballer so it is high-grade intelligence."

The Sun is barred for legal reasons from publishing the identities of the five players.

But disgraced Leon told us how he saw them snorting the drug in West End nightclubs.

The former Queens Park Rangers and Cardiff winger claimed it was an England international who introduced him to coke.

An FA spokesman said: "We have an extensive drug-testing programme in which we invest heavily. There's no place for drugs in the game."

Dad-of-two Leon, who now claims to be drug-free, said: "I've never seen any footballers take any other drug apart from cocaine.

"Ecstasy stays inside you longer and marijuana can be traced six weeks later. That's why cocaine was our drug of choice."

He told how he was still high when ambushed by drug testers 12 hours after snorting four lines of "Charlie".

He tried to hoodwink them by filling his sample bottle with water from the toilet.

Leon then slipped home, turned off his mobile and ignored club pleas to return and retake the test.

The talented footballer playing for Cardiff at the time said: "I laid back on my bed knowing I had been caught. The UK Sport guys were outside my door. I did not answer.

"I did not leave the flat for two days. When I switched my mobile phone off there must have been 50 messages, the majority of them from the club.

"The inevitable happened -- I was given a ban from football by the Welsh FA and Cardiff washed their hands of me."

Leon -- cleared in court this week of being part of a £500,000 drugs supply ring in the Welsh capital -- said: "I've not touched a drug since my arrest. I have been a fool with my career. But I fully support UK Sport looking more closely at what footballers get up to.

"Drug taking has spread throughout football -- not just the type of people I've been hanging around with.

"My story is a wake-up call to footballers. They think they can get away with taking cocaine."

Last night Sky TV soccer pundit Jimmy Hill welcomed the decision to carry out random tests on the five stars.

He said: "There is no place for drugs in football. Like stars from the world of entertainment, footballers have a duty to set an example."

Ex-England hero Chris Waddle, who won 62 caps, confessed: "It does not shock me to know that four of those five names have England connections.

"I was offered a lot of substances -- cocaine and ecstasy -- but I always said I was not interested."

Steve Powell, head of development of the Football Supporters Federation, said: "Every fan wants to know the football players are drug free.

"It is not unreasonable for a footballer to take random, on-the-spot drug tests."

Sun Sport columnist Jimmy Greaves said: "Anybody found to have any connection with drugs should be banned from the game. There's no grey area."

Leon's bombshell revelations come as the nation waits on tenterhooks over the future of England defender Rio Ferdinand.

The Manchester United ace, 24, faces a maximum two-year ban for failing to take a test at the team's training ground on September 23.

He claims he merely forgot about the request for a sample from UK Sport though he did pass a test two days later.