Special Report: Football urged to do more in fight against EPO doping

Feb 13, 2013 1:30:00 PM

Anti-doping chiefs call on the game's governing bodies to 'renew their efforts' to eradicate the use of performance-enhancing drugs in the wake of the Lance Armstrong affair

With the morality of our sport stars coming increasingly under the spotlight, the World Anti-Doping Agency [WADA] has expressed concerns over football's failure to test players for use of EPO.

Former Real Sociedad president Inaki Badiola claimed earlier this month that the Basque club bought banned substances between 2001 and 2007 and, with the game coming under further scrutiny, WADA president John Fahey is concerned by football's failure to test for what he regards as the "drug of choice'"for cheating athletes.

"I understand this to be accurate, that football does not test for EPO," Fahey told Goal.com . "If you're not testing for it, you're not catching cheats.

"They are not testing enough for EPO," Fahey said. "They can do more and we encourage them to do more. They should use intelligence and not just more tests.

“This is the wake-up call we need," Fahey continued. "We need to renew our efforts, increase our resources and do it better in the future than we have in the past. That applies to football, to tennis, to many areas in sport.”

Click here for the full interview.

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