The FA ask Arsene Wenger to explain his doping comments

EXCLUSIVE: Arsenal boss invited to share his views with English football chiefs in private

Remarks: Arsene Wenger will be asked to elaborate

David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

12 November 2015

The FA have asked Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to elaborate on his concerns over doping in English football.

In an interview with L’Equipe, Wenger stated his pride at “never injecting my players to make them better” and that “I’ve played against many teams that weren’t in that frame of mind”.

Standard Sport understands the FA have invited Wenger to share his views with them in private and provide any further information he may have.

Wenger is not in any trouble but the FA view any suggestion of drug taking extremely seriously and have a duty to explore any such claims. In September, Arsenal lost a Champions League group match to Dinamo Zagreb — a team including midfielder Arijan Ademi, who subsequently failed a drugs test. Ademi faces a hearing on November 19 and will be subjected to disciplinary action should his B-sample also prove positive.

However, his club will face no punishment because UEFA rules dictate at least two players must be found guilty in the same season for the governing body to act. The FA are adamant their testing procedures prove there is no problem with doping in England. They work closely with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) laboratory to ensure testing and education programmes are updated regularly.

An FA spokesman told Standard Sport: “The FA, in conjunction with UKAD, operates one of the most comprehensive anti-doping testing programmes in the world.

“We have exceptionally few cases of positive tests for performance-enhancing drugs, which reflects the findings from drug testing in football worldwide. All positive cases for WADA-prohibited substances are published by UKAD and the FA.

“We conduct both urine and blood drug testing both in and out of competition on a no-notice basis including at players’ homes.

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“We share all relevant information with UKAD, FIFA and UEFA and are committed to ensuring the integrity of English football is maintained.

“The FA have been steroid profiling all urine samples taken from every player tested in the Football League and Premier League since January 2014, having been steroid-profiling all Premier League players in previous seasons. All samples are reviewed by UKAD.

“In addition to urine-steroid profiling, the FA have been running a blood-profiling programme in the Premier League since the 2012-13 season. Every blood-profiling sample is analysed by UKAD and target testing is undertaken on any unusual results. As with urine-testing, there have been exceptionally few unusual results in English football and none which have so far suggested a doping issue.”

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