Daily Times

MOSCOW: There have been no positive results from over 3,000 anti-doping tests carried out before and during the World Cup, FIFA said on Thursday. FIFA collected 2,761 samples prior to the tournament and another 626 during it, including 108 collected on non-matchdays, as part of the largest-ever World Cup testing programme. “The regular tests were complemented by FIFA’s use of the athlete biological passport programme in WADA’s “ADAMS” system, under which all test results, including those from confederations and NADOs collected at the main international football events as well as national competitions, are gathered in the athlete’s passport in ADAMS, which features a haematological module (through blood) and a steroidal module (through urine),” FIFA said in a statement.

For this year’s tournament, every participating player was tested in unannounced controls before the competition and further systematic tests have been performed during it, both with post-match controls and on non-matchdays. Around 90 percent of all tests were targeted, based on a number of criteria, including the recommendations of the Athlete Passport Management Unit, potential injuries suffered by the players, performance data and the athletes’ test history.

On average, every player from the four remaining teams has been tested 4.41 times since January, with some of them tested eight times. There was one adverse analytical finding but the player was in possession of a therapeutic use exemption for the substance detected. There were also three atypical findings. These occur when a sample requires further investigation by the FIFA Anti-Doping Unit prior to the determination of an adverse analytical finding. All samples collected will be stored for 10 years and be available for potential future retesting.

Published in Daily Times, July 13^th 2018.