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| Sepp Blatter © Action Images |
Fifa and the World Anti-Doping Agency have agreed to work together on a new anti-doping programme to test top-level football players.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter and Wada president John Fahey met on
Thursday at Fifa headquarters to finalise the agreement.
"We are working together, fighting against doping and trying to
put all our assets together," Blatter said after the meeting.
Fahey praised Fifa for its "robust and extensive" testing
program, but said there was room for improvement.
The new project will be modeled on the International Cycling
Union's biological passport program, which monitors 850
professional riders.
"We think this is exciting," Fahey said of the partnership with
Fifa. "If it brings the results that many scientists believe it
can, it will ultimately help all sports. We also know it will take
some considerable time."
The two organisations will work with Wada-accredited
laboratories to design a research project that could start next
year.
Fifa has been consulting with the lab in Lausanne, Switzerland,
which operates the cycling program.
Athletes give regular samples of blood and urine to create
individual body chemistry profiles that allow scientists to see
evidence of doping, rather than search for banned substances.
Football conducts 33 000 doping controls annually, half of them
in Europe, with 0.3 per cent testing positive. One in ten of the
failed tests are for anabolic agents such as steroids, with most of
the remainder involving recreational drugs such as marijuana and
cocaine, according to Fifa.
Blatter said he accepted that some players used banned drugs.
"At a certain time I was a little bit too candid to say there
was no doping in football," he said. "There is, but not very much."
"It is very low but still we have to do the controls," Fifa
chief medical officer Jiri Dvorak said. "Maybe it is the deterrent
effect which is on the athletes because they know it is happening."
Fifa's current testing programme especially targets players
classified as high risk, including international players, those on
clubs taking part in the Champions League and players with
long-term injuries.
Each of the 32 European clubs playing in the Champions League
have their players tested at least once in training and at least
once after matches.
Wada accepted Fifa's "high risk" category after a dispute
earlier this year over the whereabouts requirements demanded in the
revised Wada Code which took effect in January.
Fifa successfully argued that footballers should not be
available for unannounced tests 365 days a year. It said because
athletes in team sports trained and played at predictable locations
they should be treated differently to those in individual sports
such as cycling and track and field.
Fahey said Fifa fully complied with the Wada code, and its new
project would promote "intelligent testing".
"The important thing is to be smarter about what you do with
doping," he said. "It's about focusing on the people that are
likely to be cheating rather than simply doing blanket testing."
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