FIFA has today published its Anti-Doping Report 2020/2021, which covers FIFA’s efforts in the area from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the planning and implementation of FIFA’s anti-doping programme, with tournaments postponed and matches cancelled during the period covered by the report, a total of 354 players were subject to doping control tests in the following FIFA competitions:

The total number of samples collected as part of those tests was 602 (322 in-competition and 280 out-of-competition), consisting of 357 urine samples, 165 blood samples and 80 blood-passport samples.

Out of the 602 samples collected, only one of them resulted in an atypical finding. Further investigation into the concentration of the prohibited substance found in this sample pointed to the most likely conclusion that meat contamination had been the source of the atypical finding. Following the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) guidelines regarding this scenario, it was decided to not put forward this finding as an adverse analytical sample and to close the case accordingly.

In 2021, new rules and regulations were introduced via the updated WADA Code and the new edition of the FIFA Anti-Doping Regulations, both of which are aimed at combatting doping in sport even more efficiently across the globe.

FIFA organised a series of three online webinars for anti-doping experts from its 211 member associations in order to highlight the most important changes and illustrate the results management procedure in positive cases.

Lastly, FIFA successfully concluded the first edition of its FIFA Executive Programme in Anti-Doping, which is aimed at providing an in-depth analysis of the main regulatory, institutional and scientific aspects of anti-doping in sport.