FEBRUARY 10, 2017 – The lack of drug testing under the Wada code in Spanish football is “alarming”, according to the anti-doping organisation.
Spain’s anti-doping body (AEPSAD) was declared non-compliant by the World Anti-Doping Agency in March 2016.
Wada hoped Fifa or Uefa could take on the country’s drug testing in the interim but no agreement was struck.
“It will do little to instil confidence in clean sport at a time when it is needed most,” said a Wada statement.
Following the ruling over AEPSAD, a Wada-accredited laboratory in Madrid was suspended in June and was prohibited “from carrying out any Wada-related anti-doping activities including all analyses of urine and blood samples”.
“The lack of testing in a country with one of the leading football leagues worldwide for a period of almost 12 months is alarming,” said Wada.
During the period of non-compliance, Wada said it “encouraged” AEPSAD and International Sport Federations (IFs) to arrange that “testing would be carried out on national level athletes in Spain during the period of non-compliance”.
However, this failed to materialise in what Wada described as a “deeply disappointing” move which “prevented effective anti-doping programs from being run at the national level in Spain in a number of sports” during this period of non-compliance.
