FIFA announces no doping case by World Cup teams
All the 32 teams for the 2006 World Cup finals are free of doping, an FIFA official said here on Sunday.
“There were no positive results among the 216 urine samples that have been analysed to date”, said FIFA Chief Medical Officer Jiri Dvorak at a local press conference.
The 53-year-old professor said FIFA’s doping control doctors have conducted unannounced tests at 24 friendly matches and the training camps of all the 32 participating teams ahead of the World Cup.
“Even though in some cases teams had to be tested more than once in a period of just a few days, the cooperation of the players, coaches and officials was excellent,” he said.
Dvorak explained that at the friendly matches, two players per team were drawn for testing in accordance with the FIFA Doping Control Regulations, and requested to give a urine sample as soon as the match was over.
The doping tests at the training camps were conducted without prior notice and at a random time.
Four players per squad were drawn by lots, with the laboratory also testing one of these four players for erythropoietin, he added.
FIFA, which became the first sports federation to introduce doping control tests in 1970, has conducted 20 percent more pre-World Cup doping tests when compared to 2002.
“There is no reason to believe that if we were to test more players from each team, or if we were to conduct more tests outside of football competitions, we would uncover more positive tests,” stressed Dvorak.
During the World Cup, urine samples from two players per team will be tested after each match by FIFA and Germany’s national anti-doping agency (NADA).
Source: Xinhua
