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Anti-Doping

Doping undermines players and the game

Doping poses a serious threat to the integrity of competition within football, the safety and wellbeing of its players, and the commercial value of the game as a whole. While FIFPRO strongly opposes doping for performance enhancing purposes, a more strategic approach to detection, which protects the fundamental human rights of players, is required within the industry.

What you should know

Football needs bespoke regulations for doping

The World Anti-Doping Agency approach is extremely effective at identifying relevant cases. However, due to the team nature of football, it cannot be managed with the same methods as individual sports such as boxing and tennis. A tailored system focusing on improved testing and monitoring of players’ data would be relevant to the game.

FIFPRO supports the 2021 WADA Code

The reduced penalties for positive results which occurred outside of a sporting context were a welcome reform. However, FIFPRO will continue to challenge decisions on a case-by-case basis when necessary.

Effective anti-doping strategy still needs to be established

Challenges include a lack of player representation in the decision-making process, as well as inflexible WADA conventions which are not suitable to the nature of the game. A football-specific judicial panel would be beneficial in determining the outcome of specific cases.

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