Fifa And Uefa Oppose Wada Scheme
In a swirl of controversy surrounding World Anti-Doping Agency’s ‘whereabouts’ scheme, FIFA and UEFA have formally rejected the agency’s new code.
WADA’s ‘whereabouts’ code is currently upheld in Olympic sports such as athletics, and is a method to track athletes’ location for one entire day each year. The agency asked football to join these sports in an effort to crack down on illegal doping.
However, FIFA and UEFA have stood firm, claiming that they wanted to respect players’ privacy. In a joint statement, the two governing bodies also reaffirmed that football conducts 25,000 and 30,000 doping controls a year and is committed to fighting drug-use in the sport.
WADA has released a statement that it is ‘concerned’ with FIFA and UEFA’s decision.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who sits on WADA’s board, said the governing body has joined other sports that are opposed to the ‘whereabouts’ scheme, such as basketball, ice hockey and rugby union.
Team sports are not the only ones opposing the agency’s new code, nor is it the first time the ‘whereabouts’ scheme has raised controversy in the sporting world. Professional athletes such as Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal have openly opposed WADA’s new method, calling it an intrusion of privacy.
Although the opposition is strong, WADA has remained steadfast in its decision to proceed with the ‘whereabouts’ scheme and, as an Olympic sport, football will be obliged to comply with the WADA code at London 2012.
