FIFA have announced that they will conduct surprise doping tests of all World Cup Players starting in March allowing them to set up a biological passport to determine and irregularities in blood or urine samples.
They have also stated that FIFA’s medical staff will decide before individual games as to whether drinks breaks will be used during the World Cup in Brazil. FIFA’s chief medical officer Jiri Dvorak told a press conference on Saturday that FIFA were ‘not overly concerned” with the heat during matches in the jungle city of Manaus. A venue that will host England, Italy, Portugal and the USA.
Dvorak did state though that any squad player in all of the teams who have qualified for the World Cup can expect surprise visits after March 01, which is the date that nations have to advise FIFA where they will be training and who they will be playing in friendlies before the World Cup commences.
No doubt some high profile players will have to curb their vices away from the pitch for longer than they may have imagined. Rest assured some players will get caught, the question is who and from which nations?
The one bit of good news for Brazil’s organisers was that the eighth stadium, Beira Rio has been completed and officially opened, even though it was two months behind schedule. THis is only the second of Brazil’s non-Confederations Cup venues to be ready for the World Cup in June, despite a December deadline.
