According to a report by FIFA, its first phase of its Anti-doping Unit program has cleared 91.5% or 800 players on the finals list who had been tested through blood and urine for signs of drug use ahead of the 2014 World Cup. The program is said to be part of the world soccer organization's push to discourage drug use in the tournament. The players would still be tested at any time during the competition to ensure that they have not cheated or skirted FIFA Anti-doping Regulations.
FIFA Chief Medical Officer, Prof. Jiri Dvorak, said about the effort, "It was a major undertaking to implement it on such a large scale and considering the playing season, and I have to say that all players, team doctors and managers welcomed the new approach. It is so important to understand that we all want to eliminate doping in football and in sport in general."
Apart from the pre-competition measures reportedly implemented by FIFA, the organization would also be testing two players from each team their blood and urine per match in accordance to FIFA's in-competition doping controls. The results would then also be used to compare the data retrieved from tests conducted in previous competitions like UEFA EURO 2012, the UEFA Champions League editions of 2013 and 2014, the FIFA Club World Cup 2011, 2012 and 2013 and the FIFA Confederations Cup 2013 to check whether an athlete has abused the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Director General David Howman commended the measures, saying, "We welcome the decision taken by FIFA to carry out this initiative. This is the first time in major sport competition history that participating athletes were systematically tested prior to the competition for the establishment of individual biological profiles including both blood and urine parameters. We encourage other sports to follow suit in adopting the Athlete Biological Passport as an effective means to protecting the rights of the clean athlete."
