Tighter Doping Controls

When Oliver Kahn flew into a rage in March this year after being ordered to provide a second post-match urine sample, the Bayern Munich goalkeeper later claimed that he had been annoyed at being singled out again for the testing procedure.

While he was proven clean after his fit of pique, Kahn still violated a number of doping control rules in the wake of the Champions League qualifier against Real Madrid, for which he served a one-game ban. However, given the facts about dope testing in soccer, Olli could have been excused for feeling a little persecuted.

In relation to other sports, German soccer players have it easy when it comes to being tested for doping.

In 2006, doping controllers from Germany’s National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) visited the 36 top-flight Bundesliga clubs during training sessions 87 times; that's just 2.4 visits per club. Statistics show that out of 900 registered players in the Bundesliga, just 174 were tested "out of competition" in 2006. That compares to 886 tests "in competition," which refers to testing after matches. No positive tests were recorded in either category in 2006.

"NADA, the German Soccer Association (DFB) and the German Soccer League (DFL) are in discussions about this discrepancy at the moment, NADA's Ulrike Spitz told DW-WORLD.DE.

"All parties have agreed that there must be more 'out of competition' controls in soccer in the future. The number of 'in competition' controls is really good, but there are not enough tests in training. And that will be modified soon."

Other athletes tested more

In comparison to soccer players, top track-and-field athletes are tested at between four and six training sessions per year. A top athlete can be tested 15 times a year in total. When a soccer player is tested four times in a year, both in and out of competition, that is regarded a lot. So Oliver Kahn may have been justified in throwing his weight about after being singled out again

The statistics on doping control in the Bundesliga suggest that many players go a whole season without being presented a plastic beaker. And while the numbers of soccer players actually being caught taking illegal substances in the Bundesliga since controls were introduced in 1988 is remarkably low, one has to wonder whether it is because doping does not take place or that the holes in the net are too large.

With cycling reeling from its latest series of high-profile doping scandals and athletics still producing a steady flow of drug cheats, the DFB is not taking any chances. The DFB, DFL and NADA are all racing to agree on a stricter regime of doping controls for the 2007/08 Bundesliga season which just kicked off on August 10.

After a DFB seminar on the topic last month, officials from the three organizations agreed that the doping checks in the Bundesliga should be more in line with those which take place in athletics.

Under the preliminary plans for the coming season, the 36 Bundesliga clubs will be required to inform NADA by fax or email every Friday when and where their players will be training in the next week.

As well as the standard urine tests, the DFB, DFL and NADA hope to introduce blood testing to the procedure in a bid to detect the use of anabolic steroids or erythropoietin (EPO). European soccer's governing body UEFA also wants to include these blood tests in its checks at the 2008 European Championships.

Likely drugs

Anabolic steroids and EPO are the most likely substances to be used by anyone doping in soccer. Erythropoietin stimulates the bone marrow to produce more red blood cells. The resultant increase in red blood cells increases the blood's oxygen-carrying capacity and increases stamina. Anabolic steroids would promote increased muscle growth during these periods of increased, EPO-enhanced activities. Both would be administered in the training phase.

It was also agreed that, in addition to the usual training visitations and post-match testing, soccer players must make themselves available for testing at all times, even when on vacation.

While the increase in the number, type and frequency of controls can only be lauded as a step in the right direction, some experts see these efforts as an example of shutting the stable door after the chemically enhanced horse has bolted. Questions have arisen as to why anti-doping measures now, some 20 years after controls were introduced, are being stepped-up. Is there any increased threat or is it just a symbolic act?

"It is not only a symbolic act," said NADA's Spitz. "A lot of things are happening because of the doping discussion at the moment. Everybody has accepted that there is a problem in sport, not only in cycling.

"NADA has never excluded any sport from the doping control system but we do have to organize the controls in adequate quantities," she added. "In the case of the Bundesliga, all the parties involved agree that there are not enough 'out of competition' controls at the moment and all the parties want to improve the system as quickly as possible."

Murky past?

There have been only four positive doping tests in the Bundesliga since NADA was established in 2003 -- as many in four years of soccer as in one Tour de France. But while many within the game have made strong assertions that soccer is clean apart from these very few exceptions, others have suggested the Bundesliga has a murkier past than most would like to admit.

There have been recent claims and admissions hinting at a doping culture in the Bundesliga before controls were introduced in 1988. Former Schalke 04 coach Peter Neururer issued a written statement to the DFB two weeks ago stating that around 50 percent of his players used captagon, along with other stimulants like ephedrine, some as recently as the early 90's. His assistant at Schalke, Michael Krüger, also admitted seeing players use the drug and even took it himself as an 18-year old.

The first player to get caught after the controls were brought in was Roland Wohlfarth in 1995. The VfL Bochum striker was found to have taken the stimulant norephedrin. Since Wohlfarth's positive test, 14 players in total have tested positive for doping in the first and second league.

The DFB-led discussions will come to a conclusion at the end of August when a new regime of testing and financing will be agreed on. All three organizations agree that more money is needed, as well as more tests. With sponsors and media companies responsible for much of the wealth in soccer, all agree that any increased funding would be money well spent.