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‘No systematic doping in football’: A critical review

This essay examines the degree to which football administrators are correct to believe that there is relatively little use of performance‐enhancing drugs in elite football. In contrast to FIFA’s reliance on the results of drug testing as a means of gauging this phenomenon, this essay attempts to triangulate the evidence from the broader spectrum of sources of information about drug use in sport. Though meaningful and accurate data on the use of such drugs in a sport are difficult to obtain, sources indicate that whilst doping might not be as widespread in football as it is in other sports, and that its prevalence appears to vary from country to country, there is evidence to suggest that systematic doping programmes have been implemented at a number of leading European football clubs. FIFA’s short‐sighted assessment of the problem potentially restricts the effectiveness of, and the deterrent posed by, existing anti‐doping programmes in football.