UEFA introduced anti doping unit to ensure comprehensive testing programme for the four teams that qualified for the league’s finals to create a level playing field for all the teams. This was done after the hosts Portugal,England, Netherlands and Switzerland had qualified.
A total of 169 samples were collected on the players taking part in the finals by uefa and collaborating national anti doping organizations and a total of 84 of this samples were collected after a match and 85 were also collected at the training ground or at player’s residents. This samples were analyzed at world anti doping agency (WADA) accredited laboratories.
The analysis had to be completed within 48hours to ensure that the results are known before semifinals in which Portugal played Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday and the Netherlands faced England in Guimaraes on Thursday. This was done after uefa anti doping officers had collected an extra 20 samples from players at team hotels following their arrival in Portugal.
The uefa body had signed collaboration agreement with the national anti doping organizations of all the four finalist countries. The collaboration enabled uefa nados to manage comprehensive Athlete Biological Passport programs on the players taking part in the competition. Athlete Biological passport is used to manage or monitor certain biological variables over time that would indicate the effect of doping substance on the body.
The statistical tool uses data from end of the player’s previous samples to give a personalised limit for any future samples. The sample that falls outside the predicted individual limits may indicate doping and needs further investigation. This ensures that all samples collected on an athlete go to the same passport.
Therefore this means that the data is more comprehensive and accurate. Individual limits are more accurate and this reduces a chance of a player cheating. The collaboration agreement has ensured sharing whereabouts information and test plans on the players and can be tested at their training grounds without any prior notice.
Daily sports hub 