Monday, March 30, 2009

Uefa oppose Wada proposal

Uefa oppose Wada proposal
Uefa have joined Fifa in voicing their opposition to efforts to force footballers to inform drug-testers of their daily whereabouts.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) were hoping to push through a scheme where football would join sports such as athletics and tennis in providing players' locations for an hour each day throughout the year.

In Britain, up to 30 elite players would then be subjected to up to five tests per year by UK Sport in addition to the doping tests carried out after games.

Fifa's executive committee opposed the rule last week, with Uefa's executive committee following suit following a meeting in Copenhagen on Tuesday.

After the meeting, Fifa and Uefa issued a joint statement saying: "The governing bodies of Fifa and Uefa formally reject the stance taken by Wada concerning the 'whereabouts' rule and, more specifically, the individual location of team sports' athletes.

Differences

"Fifa and Uefa wish to point out the fundamental differences between an individual athlete, who trains on his own, on the one hand, and a team sport's athlete, who is present at the stadium six days out of seven, and thus easy to locate, on the other hand.

"Fifa and Uefa therefore oppose the individual 'whereabouts' rule, and want to see it replaced by collective location rules, within the scope of the team and within the stadium infrastructure.

"Furthermore, Fifa and Uefa do not accept that controls be undertaken during the short holiday period of players, in order to respect their private life."

The statement agreed there should be an exception where players serving a suspension, or though players injured for a long period of time, should provide individual whereabouts as they do not necessarily participate in the daily life of a club.

"In a spirit of collaboration in the fight against doping, Fifa and Uefa therefore ask Wada to reconsider its position on the 'whereabouts' rule," said the statement.