EURO 2024: celebrating a clean tournament
Friday, August 23, 2024
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UEFA’s anti-doping efforts across the 2023/24 season were defined by rigorous testing, comprehensive education and a UEFA EURO 2024 where no adverse analytical findings were recorded.
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UEFA EURO 2024 marked a successful end to UEFA’s anti-doping work for the 2023/24 season. Anti-doping controls took place after each of the 51 matches, with at least four players per team tested and the samples analysed at a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited lab. All samples were analysed within 48 hours or less of being taken, while UEFA will store those samples for ten years, allowing for retesting.
For a comprehensive approach, close collaboration with different national anti-doping organisations allowed rigorous out-of-competition testing to be completed before the tournament. Overall, between 1 January 2024 and the end of the EURO, 1,536 urine and blood samples were collected from 622 players, with no adverse analytical findings recorded.
Learn more about how anti-doping testing worked at EURO 2024
Anti-doping education
As part of UEFA’s commitment to a clean EURO, the doctors of the 24 competing teams all signed an anti-doping charter, pledging to comply with anti-doping regulations and to educating staff and players. In addition, all teams were provided with educational material, advice and key information ahead of the tournament.
That emphasis on education and awareness is fundamental to UEFA’s wider anti-doping approach. Across the 2023/24 season, all 55 member associations used dedicated UEFA funding to help deliver anti-doping education activities, reaching an estimated 34,000 players and 4,500 medical staff.
In April 2024, more than 100 representatives from UEFA member associations and international anti-doping organisations gathered at the UEFA headquarters for an anti-doping workshop. The event showcased the success of ongoing education programmes, identified areas for development and promoted closer collaboration between associations and national anti-doping organisations.
Other key developments included the adoption of a new integrity education concept for UEFA youth competitions, where players receive bespoke sessions before competing in UEFA’s youth national competition by local experts, plus the delivery of a series of seminars organised by the Gibraltar Football Association in close collaboration with UEFA for all clubs from Gibraltar’s men's and women’s football leagues, both divisions of the futsal league and the new Under-17 league.
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Ensuring high standards of anti-doping testing
UEFA is supported by its dedicated team of 55 doping control officers from 30 countries, who are responsible for conducting testing and also play a key role in educating players, clubs and national associations about expectations, procedures and purposes.
To maintain high standards, UEFA’s doping control officers undergo regular training and yearly re-accreditation assessments. UEFA is also committed to embracing the latest technological developments, including, this year, assessing the potential of machine learning to help predict high-risk matches and players. A digital anti-doping education platform, where member associations can access presentations and instructional resources, has also been created.
Heading into the 2024/25 season, each UEFA member association will be eligible to request up to €20,000 through the HatTrick programme specifically for anti-doping education activities.