Fifa to sign new Wada code

2008-02-29 16:21

Zurich - World football's governing body Fifa has agreed to sign the World Anti-Doping Agency's revised code, Fifa president Sepp Blatter announced on Friday.

Following a meeting with new Wada president John Fahey at Fifa's Zurich headquarters, Blatter said the alterations in the new code would be accepted into Fifa's regulations at the body's annual Congress at the end of May.

The code, which comes into force on January 1, 2009, will allow greater flexibility in the sanctions imposed on athletes who can prove they failed doping tests through oversight rather than an intention to cheat.

It will also define new standards relating to the 'whereabouts' rules, in which athletes have to inform anti-doping authorities of their location for potential testing.

- Reuters