Leadership (Abuja)
12 November 2008
The list is endless, but Nigerian players like Kanu Nwankwo, Mikel Obi, John Utaka, Obafemi Martins and a host of others will join their Premier League players and England internationals to face unprecedented levels of drug-testing next year, in a bid to eradicate doping from the landscape of the game.
Under current guidelines, one player per team is subjected to a drugs test after each match. However, via new legislation, 30 players may be approached up to five times a year for Olympic-style random and out-of-competition testing.
The World Anti-Doping Agency code dictates that football is to bring itself into line with procedures common in other sports, such as rugby and cricket.
Players will be required to adhere to the so called 'whereabouts' rule, meaning that they will be forced to disclose their location for an hour of each day, including the off season. This rule is already an everyday feature for British Olympic athletes.
John Steel, chief executive of UK Sport, the agency which runs the British anti-doping programme, told BBC: "This move, in partnership with the Professional Footballers' Association, is really getting whereabouts into the professional soccer game, to bring them in line with other athletes and continue the fight against doping across all our sports".
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