EURO teams sign anti-doping charter
Soccer Europe : The UEFA EURO 2008™ finalists have signed a ground-breaking Anti-Doping Charter paving the way for blood tests to be carried out on players for the first time. The heads of the national associations of the 16 participating teams put pen to paper in Vienna during the finalists' workshop, allowing for both blood and urine samples to be taken in some 300 tests before and during this summer's tournament in Austria and Switzerland. The stringent new measures will enable the identification of banned substances, including the blood-boosting drug EPO, while a new technique to test for growth hormones will be used at an international event for the first time. Experts will also be able to determine whether a player's blood has been abnormally manipulated by means of a transfusion. "What is happening today is a very strong signal from all the associations to say that we are fighting against doping in football," said UEFA President Michel Platini ahead of the signing ceremony at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion, which will stage the EURO final on 29 June.
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