New material aids UEFA anti-doping cause

Education and information are the core elements of UEFA's anti-doping programme. With this in mind, UEFA's anti-doping unit has produced two items that underline the message that doping has no place in football: new leaflets for players and a video demonstrating the sample collection procedure.

Raising awareness
The material has been prepared to help raise players' awareness – especially that of young players – of the health risks associated with doping; to inform them of UEFA's anti-doping regulations and procedures; to prevent them from committing procedural errors; and to promote the principle of fair play.

Educational sessions
The two items have already been presented at education sessions that took place at UEFA youth competition final rounds – Under-17, U19, Women's U17 and WU19 – this summer.

Leaflets
The new World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code, which came into force this year, and the UEFA anti-doping regulations which were subsequently amended, provided an opportunity to review the leaflets that have regularly been distributed to national associations and players in recent years. As a result, the content has been updated and the layout refreshed.

Anti-doping issues
The leaflet deals with the most important anti-doping issues that players should know about and is written in a straightforward and comprehensible style. Seven language versions are available: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Russian (click on any language to read that particular version).

New video
The instructional video follows two UEFA Doping Control Officers (DCOs) conducting an anti-doping control during the UEFA EURO 2008™ group match between France and Romania (click here to watch). The viewer can observe all the stages of an anti-doping control, beginning with the arrival of the DCOs at the stadium, the information given to the teams, the blood and urine collection procedure and, finally, the secure delivery of the samples to the testing laboratory.