Courtesy: Reuters


UEFA reports fall in doping cases

Tue Dec 11, 2007

By Mark Ledsom

BERNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - European football's governing body UEFA detected just three instances of doping last season after carrying out tests on more than 1,600 footballers.

UEFA said on Tuesday it had conducted a total of 1,662 doping tests during the 2006-7 season including 938 tests for the blood boosting substance EPO.

Two of the three positive tests involved the use of cannabis during a futsal event while the third involved high levels of the steroid Betamethasone during a Euro 2008 qualifying match.

Azerbaijan defender Sergei Sokolov was handed an 18-month ban in January after testing positive for Betamethasone during his country's 3-0 defeat to Belgium in October 2006.

There were 506 out-of-competition tests on players competing in the Champions League, none of which returned positive results.

The three positive tests were an improvement on the previous season which saw seven players testing positive for banned substances, despite fewer tests being conducted.

UEFA said the current season's doping programme would be even more extensive, largely due to the staging of Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria next June.

The governing body said the tournament would see blood doping controls being conducted in and out of competition for the first time at a major football championship.






Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com