SPORTS> Soccer
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SPORTS> Soccer
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FIFA makes peace with WADA on drug testing
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-10 16:35 GENEVA: FIFA and the World Anti-Doping Agency announced an agreement on Wednesday in their dispute over rules for drug testing elite soccer players. The governing body of world football said WADA has accepted its new plan to limit the number of players who will be required to detail their whereabouts every day during the offseason. FIFA chief medical officer Jiri Dvorak said team sports like soccer could now target for testing players defined as "at risk" - such as those recovering from injury or who previously used a banned substance. "We have come to a common agreement," Dvorak told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "If there is any suspicion then anybody can be tested anywhere at any time," WADA director general David Howman said soccer and other team sports had not been given special privileges over individual sports where athletes must give details of where they can be tested for at least one hour of every day. "There has been no difference in the way we have approached this to any other sport," Howman told the AP by telephone from WADA headquarters in Montreal. "It was done because they specifically said they would appreciate it."
The peace deal was made possible after Howman offered to fly to Zurich for a meeting at FIFA headquarters, which took place on Monday. The two sides had appeared to fall out publicly last month after FIFA president Sepp Blatter, a member of WADA's governing board, called on the organization to change the rule which took effect on Jan. 1 after a lengthy consultation with sports leaders. Blatter said players deserve privacy during holidays and that team sports should not be held to the strictest standards of the out-of-competition rule in the new WADA code because they train and play together at predictable locations. FIFA's stance was backed by UEFA and the governing bodies of other team sports including basketball, ice hockey and volleyball. Soccer also claims it carried out more doping tests than any other sport - more than 25,000 annually, with an average of 10 players testing positive each year from 2004-08. Yet WADA president John Fahey said the request for players to be left alone by testing teams during the offseason "ignores the reality of doping in sport," with cheats seeking to exploit any loophole. The new proposal tabled on Monday by Dvorak and Michel D'Hooghe, chairman of FIFA's medical committee, called for targeted testing. "We have defined where are our players most at risk and most tempted by doping," Dvorak said. "It is a risk assessment and risk management exactly the same as you would do in industry." Howman said the testing pool of 'at risk' players should be kept small so that team sport federations do not overreach. "Every sport has the right to determine who they should have in the pool," he said. "You don't go into a pilot scheme where you have thousands. You might have tens or hundreds." The FIFA proposal will be monitored this year before WADA considers whether to change its drug-testing standards for 2010. "We will stand by and watch and see," Howman said. "We are waiting with some patience but certainly optimism to see how the year pans out. AP |
