Brazil 2014: long-term anti-doping test for all players from 01/03/2014

All players who might participate in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil (from 12/06 to 07/13/2014) will be a required to participate in long-term anti-doping tests from 01/03/2014. This includes mandatory medical examinations, two in-depth evaluations, as well as blood and urine drug tests.

Approximately 2,000 players are concerned, or sixty for each of the 32 teams qualified for the finals of the XX World Cup.

"The logistics are ready, the federations have been warned and the dates of the checks will not be made public," stated Swiss professor Jiri Dvorak, chief physician of FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association), on 15/02/2014.

"The biological passport is both an individual and long-term profile. For example, injecting synthetic EPO aims to increase the number of red blood cells. Historically, we measured the increase in hematocrit on an ad-hoc basis. By measuring the hemoglobin level at different times, you can get a profile with minimum and maximum measurements specific to each individual," explained Martial Saugy, director of the anti-doping laboratory in Lausanne…