FIFA given doping compliance deadline
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-17 09:22

The World Anti-Doping Agency is giving FIFA until September to comply with global rules on sanctions for drug offenders or jeopardize soccer's place in the Olympics and possibly affect the World Cup, WADA officials said Monday.

National Football League commissioner Paul Tagliabue blasted the idea of adopting World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) measures to govern American football at a Congressional hearing.(WADA)

WADA says FIFA's insistence on six-month suspensions rather than two-year bans for serious drug offenses is in breach of the world anti-doping code adopted last year by Olympic sports federations.

"This is not acceptable," WADA president Dick Pound said. "There will be immediate consequences if they're not compliant."

WADA's executive committee, which met Sunday and Monday in Montreal, gave FIFA until its congress in Marrakech, Morocco, in September to make the changes required.

Because governments, such as Germany, also are signatories of the anti-doping code, they could deny FIFA access to stage events within their borders. The World Cup is set for Germany next year.

"One consequence might be that governments will not accept FIFA tournaments on their territories," WADA vice chair Brian Mikkelsen said.

WADA accepts FIFA's position that doping cases should be judged on an individual basis, but the sides differ on the length of sanctions.

WADA cannot sanction organizations such as FIFA, but can recommend measures to governments and national soccer associations.

Pound said last week he had spoken regularly with FIFA president Sepp Blatter and he "fully understands the problem and the need for making the internal rules code compliant."

FIFA gave unanimous approval to the code at its congress in Paris last year.

Countries paying their WADA dues earlier than before are a measure of the organization's growing influence and of the importance given to fighting doping, officials say.

"We're seeing strong recognition among the governments of WADA's importance and impact, demonstrated by their fulfillment of funding obligations," director general David Howman said.

WADA has collected 60 percent of its 2005 funding versus six percent at this time two years ago for the 2003 budget.

"The participation of twelve ministers at WADA's Foundations board meeting today sends a strong signal that governments are committed to the fight against doping in sport," Pound said.

WADA also said it will conduct 30 percent more out-of-competition tests this year, over 3,000 in all, focusing particularly on sports and regions where such programs are weak.

WADA also announced that Montevideo, Uruguay, would be the site of its Latin American regional office.

WADA said it will seek to organize a third world conference on doping in 2007. The first two meetings were held in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1999 and Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2003, where the universal code was adopted.

The WADA code, approved by international federations and national governments, sets out uniform rules against performance-enhancing drugs cutting across all sports and all countries.

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