Hajo Seppelt is the most famous German journalist who researches doping scandals in sport. This time, he criticized the actions of the FIFA organization, accusing the lack of admission of independent observers during the examination of samples in order to detect prohibited substances in the body of footballers. The matter is controversial - the more that this year's World Cup takes place in Russia, where doping is used on a large scale.
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Problems with doping in Russian sport
The doubts of a German journalist are compounded by the fact that large-scale doping was discovered in Russia. The case was discovered and publicized by Julia Stepanova, a runner, and Grigory Rodchenkov, the then director of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, who covered up the cases related to the use of illegal substances, was involved in the whole procedure. He also invented smarter and smarter ways to create doping that could not be detected by modern methods. Currently, proceedings are pending in his case. An arrest warrant was also issued by a Moscow court.
What were the Russian footballers inhaling?
Additional controversy was caused by a photo showing Russian footballers inhaling something. After the case was revealed and publicized, the Russian football federation officially admitted that these were cloths soaked in ammonia. Such a procedure is not prohibited, but it is contrary to the idea of "fair play". This substance increases endurance, and the Russian representatives had excellent endurance - suffice it to mention that they ran the most of all the teams participating in this year's World Cup. It probably had a huge impact on two draws in the knockout phase - first against Spain (who they eliminated after a penalty shootout) and Croatia (who they lost to after a penalty shootout).
FIFA does not allow anyone to test doping
Sajo Seppelt has huge doubts about doping testing. He alleges that the International Football Organization does not even admit independent observers to the process. It deals with everything itself - tests, transport of samples, research. Additionally, it has made an official inquiry as to what angle the samples are being checked against. FIFA responded to this letter saying that 10% of them are checked for the presence of erythropene (an illegal hormone used as doping - editor's note). This means that up to 90% of samples will not be tested for the presence of this substance. And it is used on a massive scale.
Maradona was the last to be excluded from the World Cup
Additional doubts are raised by the fact that the last player excluded from... World Cup Diego Maradona was convicted of doping. This took place in 1994. According to Mads Kaggestad - a former Norwegian cyclist, now a doping expert - this affects the credibility of FIFA's research. A simple conclusion follows from this - no footballer has used doping during the World Cup for 24 years.
There is no accredited laboratory in Russia
Another allegation that casts a shadow on the reliability of anti-doping tests is the fact that no accredited control laboratory has operated in Russia since the high-profile scandal. Richard Pound - former director of WADA also joins the group of critics. Observers from this institution were present during doping tests at previous World Cup tournaments. This year, however, is different. In his opinion, this only proves that the approach to doping in football has not changed a bit (quoted after: WP.pl). He adds that there is no effort or willingness to take the necessary steps to ensure football is clean.
In light of the above allegations and the controversy related to Russia, where the use of doping on a large scale was detected, it is hard to disagree with the statement that FIFA is trying to hide something. The very fact that independent observers are not allowed raises huge concerns. The issue of doping in sport should be clean and open. All the more so because the use of prohibited substances violates the idea of "fair play" so strongly promoted by FIFA.
