FIFA defends Russia on doping, says no ‘widespread doping in football’

Football is among the sports where positive tests were apparently covered up in Russia, according to a World Anti-Doping Agency investigation last year, but FIFA says it has no information about ‘widespread soping’ in the sport

FIFA defended Russia’s right to host the World Cup amid a series of doping scandals, saying today that there is no sign of “widespread” drug use in Russian soccer.

FIFA has jumped to Russia’s defence after reports of widespread doping in sports. (AFP file photo)

Russia has been stripped of dozens of Olympic medals for doping and cover-ups, including tampering with samples. Soccer is among the sports where positive tests were apparently covered up, according to a World Anti-Doping Agency investigation last year.

“From the information we have, we cannot talk about widespread doping in football in Russia,” FIFA general secretary Fatma Samoura said today, three days before FIFA hosts the World Cup draw at the Kremlin.

All World Cup samples will be shipped out of Russia to a laboratory in Lausanne, Switzerland, on the day they are collected, Samoura said.

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Documents from a WADA investigation last year said arrangements were in place to protect players from Russia’s 2014 World Cup squad if they were to test positive in the country before the tournament. The documents don’t directly accuse Russia’s World Cup squad of doping, but they do include records of alleged drug use among players from youth national teams.

“If we play like that while doped, then how would we do without?” Mutko said. “It’s absolute stupidity.”