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FIFA Doping Control
FIFA takes resolute stance against doping

Instances of doping in football have been on the increase of late. Jaap Stam, Edgar Davids and Josep Guardiola are just a few of the high-profile players to have tested positive recently. Faced with a scourge that has become rife in top-level sport, FIFA has chosen to take the bull by the horns. The chairman of FIFA’s medical committee, Doctor Michel D’Hooghe, interviewed by the French daily L’Equipe, has stated that he intends to “detect EPO” during the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan™.


Dr Michel D’Hooghe, Chairman Sports Medical Committee
Michel d’Hooghe is not a man to hide behind a veil. In response to the plethora of doping cases in football, the chairman of FIFA’s medical committee has elected to stir up a hornet’s nest by announcing that EPO will be hunted down during the forthcoming FIFA World Cup™. “I don’t see why football should be given special protection”, he explains in L’Equipe.(…) “I know that certain doping specialists have moved over from cycling to our sport because of the money it attracts, and when these things happen, we need to talk about it.”

In a milieu frequently inclined to clam up on the subject, this amounts to a brave position, even more so since it is backed up by action. “I can inform you that we will be testing for EPO during the next World Cup”, the doctor announced.

Even though the urine samples used by FIFA are often contested by those defending incriminated athletes, D’Hooghe is of the view that everything possible has to be done to combat cheating. “While EPO is on the list of banned substances, it does not seem possible to me to put in place serious checks without testing for it. I am in charge of this fight and I will see it through to the end”, he continues. Sure of his facts, the Belgian doctor is in no doubt that this decision will be ratified by FIFA’s executive committee, which is wholly in agreement with his position.

But the chairman of FIFA’s Sports Medical Committee is also keen to demonstrate that he isn’t just waking up to the problem, and that the football authorities have already been working to combat doping. “We performed in the region of a hundred checks during the qualification phase for the coming World Cup As it turned out, there were two or three positive tests, including a case of anabolic steroids in Africa. (…) We can also announce that each of the 32 squads present in Asia will be tested at least once during the pre-competition friendlies.”

This abundance of good intentions is accompanied by a healthy dose of realism vis-à-vis the long road that still remains to be travelled. For this is a battle that requires a collective effort that is far from evident. “Progress is being made (…), but there remains much work to be done, not least to harmonise disciplinary procedures within the 204 national federations.” These 204 ants are going to have to be taught to march in line…

FIFA Sports Medicine section on Doping


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