Footballers playing at the highest level stand to come under the greatest scrutiny in new drug testing procedures agreed between Fifa and the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).
The football governing body's new anti-doping rules come into force on Friday as a pilot project created after it objected to players being held to the toughest standards of the new Wada code which governs all other sports.
Tests will be targeted at players classed in three high-risk categories: those sidelined for long periods through injury or suspension, players with Champions League clubs, and international players. "Risk is highest where there is much at stake," Fifa said, noting that international players were mostly drawn from clubs in the top leagues of the major football countries. "Preparation time prior to international competition is considered a high-risk period."
Players and teams in the high risk categories will be subject to surprise visits from drug-testing teams. Those who are out of the game with long-term suspensions or injuries must provide whereabouts details to be available for testing in a one hour slot each day.
Teams competing in the eight-nation Confederations Cup in South Africa in June - a test event for the 2010 World Cup - will have to give details of where the squad is each day in training.
Fifa plans to order 64 tests at the tournament which starts on 14 June, with samples taken from two players from each team in each match. World champions Italy, South American champions Brazil and European champions Spain will all take part.
Fifa proposed the targeted testing program to Wada after arguing that team sports like football, where training and playing locations are more predictable, should not be treated like individual sports such as athletics and cycling, where competitors' plans change at short notice.
It also argued that footballers were entitled to their individual privacy during out-of-season holiday times. Individual testing and whereabouts requirements for players was "inefficient and ineffective," Fifa said on Tuesday. "Random team testing of elite teams at any time has more of a deterrent effect." Fifa has also created a specialised anti-doping unit of medical and legal advisers and anti-doping administrators to operate the pilot scheme this year.
It will work with Wada and liaise with national anti-doping organizations and other sports federations. More than 28,000 doping controls were carried out in football in 2007 with 93 samples testing positive. Around 60% of those positives were for recreational drugs and 12 involved anabolic steroids.
The football governing body's new anti-doping rules come into force on Friday as a pilot project created after it objected to players being held to the toughest standards of the new Wada code which governs all other sports.
Tests will be targeted at players classed in three high-risk categories: those sidelined for long periods through injury or suspension, players with Champions League clubs, and international players. "Risk is highest where there is much at stake," Fifa said, noting that international players were mostly drawn from clubs in the top leagues of the major football countries. "Preparation time prior to international competition is considered a high-risk period."
Players and teams in the high risk categories will be subject to surprise visits from drug-testing teams. Those who are out of the game with long-term suspensions or injuries must provide whereabouts details to be available for testing in a one hour slot each day.
Teams competing in the eight-nation Confederations Cup in South Africa in June - a test event for the 2010 World Cup - will have to give details of where the squad is each day in training.
Fifa plans to order 64 tests at the tournament which starts on 14 June, with samples taken from two players from each team in each match. World champions Italy, South American champions Brazil and European champions Spain will all take part.
Fifa proposed the targeted testing program to Wada after arguing that team sports like football, where training and playing locations are more predictable, should not be treated like individual sports such as athletics and cycling, where competitors' plans change at short notice.
It also argued that footballers were entitled to their individual privacy during out-of-season holiday times. Individual testing and whereabouts requirements for players was "inefficient and ineffective," Fifa said on Tuesday. "Random team testing of elite teams at any time has more of a deterrent effect." Fifa has also created a specialised anti-doping unit of medical and legal advisers and anti-doping administrators to operate the pilot scheme this year.
It will work with Wada and liaise with national anti-doping organizations and other sports federations. More than 28,000 doping controls were carried out in football in 2007 with 93 samples testing positive. Around 60% of those positives were for recreational drugs and 12 involved anabolic steroids.