Football: Biological passports for Brazil 2014

LAUSANNE: Every player at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil will be required to have a biological passport, the sport’s world governing body Fifa announced yesterday.

Fifa intend to introduce the system of biological profiling at this year’s Confederations Cup in Brazil, as part of the worldwide crackdown on doping in sport and it should be fully operational by the next World Cup.

A delegation from the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) met Fifa officials at their Zurich headquarters on Thursday, and Wada president John Fahey said his agency was ‘very satisfied with the commitment of Fifa on the biological profiles’.

Fifa medical officer Michel D’Hooghe said: “Fifa was the first international organisation for team sport to start with longitudinal profiles.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2013.