The uefa euro 2012 anti-doping programme - scientific review

The final tournament of the UEFA European Football Championship is one of the top sporting events in the world, and a high-profile event of this kind requires a well-planned and well-executed anti-doping programme to ensure the integrity of results in the competition. UEFA EURO 2012 presented a unique logistical challenge, with the tournament spread across two countries, both covering a large geographical area. This paper discusses the planning and delivery of both the pre tournament out-of-competition (OOC) testing programme and the in-competition (IC) programme, as well as reviewing the activities of doping control officers (DCOs), the whereabouts programme and assessing the sample collection and transport process. The analytical approach applied is also discussed, along with an overview of the distribution of T/E ratios and blood parameters.

Therapeutic use exemption

Football players who have either physical symptoms or disease after injury may need to be treated with specific medicines that are on the list of prohibited substances. Therapeutic use exemption may be granted to such players, in accordance with strictly defined criteria-these are presented in this article. Procedures of how to request for an abbreviated or a standard therapeutic use exemption are explained, and data on therapeutic use exemptions (UEFA and FIFA, 2004 and 2005) are also presented.