Blood Doping Tests Introduced By

In an effort to step up their fight against doping in football, the German Football League (DFL) and the German Football Association (DFB) have decided that football professionals will face blood tests after Bundesliga games.

According to UEFA's league coefficient ranking, the Bundesliga is one of the top national leagues, currently ranked 3rd in Europe. This professional association football league in Germany is contested by 18 teams and all of the Bundesliga clubs qualify for the DFB­Pokal while the winner of the Bundesliga qualifies for the DFL­Supercup. In this number one football league in the world in terms of average attendance, FC Bayern Munich has won the Bundesliga 22 times. Founded in 1962 in , the turnover of the league in the 200­10 season was €1.7bn, broken down into match­day revenue (€424m), sponsorship receipts (€573m) and broadcast income (€594m). The Bundesliga out of Europe's five major football leagues (Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, and Ligue 1) has the lowest ticket prices and the highest average attendance.

The blood doping tests will be introduced by the German Football League when the league kicks off on August 9. , the chairman of DFB’s anti­doping commission, said, the agreement with Nationale Anti Doping Agentur (NADA) is about to be finalized. German Football Federation (DFB) president said it is the right signal that even before we have results that we are implementing blood controls starting in the new season. League chief executive Andreas Rettig said we want to open ourselves up and carry out tougher controls even though we don't have any indications that they are necessary. , the president of the German football league, remarked Bundesliga players will undergo blood tests for the first time this season although no exact starting date has been agreed.

These efforts are seen by many as a positive step after the recent publication of a report pointing to government­sanctioned doping by athletes in the former . However, German Football Federation president Wolfgang Niersbach remarked that the Bundesliga decision to do blood doping tests was made before the study was published and the German Football League managing director Andreas Rettig saying that Bundesliga wants 'stricter controls' although it has 'no indication' of doping.

The study revealed a letter from a FIFA medical officer from the 1960s saying a West German athletics official reported that three players had traces of ephedrine, a banned stimulant, after the World Cup final in 1966. However, the doping claims have been vehemently denied by star players from that era, including the West German 1966 captain. Uwe Seeler said he thinks nothing of doping and added he didn't doped and he didn't know anybody who did.

In the past, Manfred Höppner, head of the East German sports medicine department, levied allegations against the Dynamo Berlin and 1. FC Lok Leipzig of doping. At that time, Höppner remarked a test revealed high traces of Amphetamine and Methamphetamine in thirteen of nineteen Dynamo players, administered only 2–3 days before, when both teams traveled abroad for European Cup matches in October 1983.