English Premier League club Manchester City has been fined by the Football Association (FA) and warned about future conduct after admitting a breach of anti-doping rules.
Back in January, the club was charged with failing to ensure “club whereabouts” information was accurate and has now been fined $43,700.
Under the rules, clubs are required to provide the FA with details of training sessions and player whereabouts to ensure they are available for testing at all times.
The charge itself relates to regulation 14d of the anti-doping rules, which states it would be a breach by the club “if the information contained in such reports is either initially inaccurate or has not been updated by the Club as necessary to ensure it remains accurate.”
The charge itself does not constitute an anti-doping rule violation, but is viewed as misconduct.
Penalties could have ranged from warnings and fines to points deductions and expulsion from competition.
This comes a week after it was revealed that there has not been any World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) sanctioned drug testing on players in La Liga since the Spanish Anti-Doping Agency was declared non-compliant in March of last year.
The Spanish Agency for Health Protection in Sport (AEPSAD) claimed there had been 57 tests conducted this season from 457 matches in the top two divisions.
The revelation on the lack of drug-testing has sparked concern around the current anti-doping methods in the league, which attracts some of the world’s best players, such as Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo and FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi.
“WADA has noted the media reports stating that there has been no World Anti-Doping Code-compliant testing conducted in Spanish football since the National Anti-Doping Organisation of Spain, AEPSAD, was declared non-compliant in March 2016,” a WADA spokesperson told insidethegames.
“The lack of testing in a country with one of the leading football leagues worldwide for a period of almost 12 months is alarming, and will do little to instill confidence in clean sport at a time when it is needed most.”
WADA declared Spain non-compliant after they failed to meet a deadline for required changes to their drug-testing procedures amid a political impasse.
The country had no functioning Government until November, meaning it could not alter its anti-doping procedures.
By Max Winters
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.