According to Daily Mail, Russia planned on doping its football players in the World Cup that the country hosts

The shadow of doping grabs the corners of every sport. Thus, the most important football event in the world does not escape from it. With less than half a year to start the world cup, the Russian team, host of the event, may be harmed by this subject.

Grigory Rodchenkov, former head of the Moscow anti-doping center, revealed the dark-blue doping plans of the host team at the next World Cup in 2018. According to the Daily Mail, the participation of the Russian team in the next World Cup could be splashed.

The scientist presented evidence on the doping intentions of the Russian team in the next world cup organized by FIFA. Up to now, Rodchenkov is protected in United States, as a witness of the case.

The doping was one of the major problems at the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014, causing the suspension of the Russian delegation in the version that will be carry out this year in South Korea. Rodchenkov was one of the great protagonists of this event. He was in charge of exchanging the urine samples of the Russian athletes in Sochi; with the changing, it was expected to avoid the World Anti-Doping Agency (AMA) from discovering illicit drugs.

In addition, the doping scandal that wrapped the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games caused the International Olympic Committee to suspend 11 Russian athletes for life. The IAAF, the governing body of world athletics, excluded the nation from the Rio 2016 Games.

Rodchenkov gave a new interview to director Bryan Fogel, who is working on Icarus, a documentary about the doping scandal. The latter, believes that the evidence presented in the documentary by the scientist, can cause a scandal similar to that occurred in Sochi.

Fogel spent years investigating doping in Russia, and at that time he met Rodchenkov, his investigations have led him to gather evidence related to the doping scandal. According to Fogel, the investigation also involves Vitaly Mutko, current Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and head of the organizing committee of the World Cup of Russia 2018 until the end of 2017.

In accordance to the filmmaker, Mutko ordered that nobody should know what was happening: "What I know about Grigory is that Mutko's order was 'Football must be clean'", said Fogel and clarified: "What that meant was that they should never give positive results in football reports, even though all the players were in the doping program sponsored by the state."

With this new declaration, FIFA must put its focus on doping during the World Cup that will begin on June 14 in Russia. At the moment, FIFA has not yet publicly assessed these suspicions. Nevertheless, according to the Daily Mail, the institution that governs the football federations in the world, expects to contact the director, in order to get a meeting with Rodchenkov to determine what type of measures will be taken.

LatinAmerican Post | Fernando Rojas
Copy edited by Marcela Peñaloza