Blood tests in Germany soon to come
The German football federation DFB has apparently finally decided to introduce blood tests. However, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the frequency of the controls will be very low.
There will be blood tests in German football by the end of 2013 says a report by Johannes Aumueller and Thomas Kistner today in the Süddeutsche Zeitung (not yet online). Italy and England do have blood tests for several years. These tests are important because many substances can only be detected with blood tests. The DFB stayed ignorant to this fact until now. Perhaps one reason for the change of mind: WADA now requires that the proportion of blood tests increases to ten percent. We have reported several times about the lack of blood tests in German football.
Now there seems to be a deal between DFB and the National Anti-Doping Agency. The chairman of the Anti-Doping Commission of DFB Rainer Koch told the Süddeutsche Zeitung: “The Nada will begin in 2013 with the introduction of blood tests in most team sports.” The German Football League DFL said that it would appreciate blood tests.
The DFB always wanted other team sports to be tested, too. This is now the case — in hockey. Moreover, the multi-billion dollar business football didn’t want to spend any extra money for blood tests. This now seems to be working according to SZ. If anything, the budget should be increased only slightly.
Blod tests will probably be taken after training but only from national athletes and players of the first and second Bundesliga. So far NADA only took around 500 out of competition tests per year – for around 1,000 athletes. Since blood tests are expensive, the future number will probably be even lower. In addition, the most athletes (with the exception of the national team) will be tested only at official training sessions – the rest of the day they have nothing to fear. Many substance are detectable for only a short time.
