All players set to be involved in the seven-team Club World
Cup next month will give samples beforehand to help laboratories prepare their
individual steroid profiles.
Players then selected for anti-doping controls at the Dec.
8-18 tournament in Japan will have their results measured against
out-of-competition tests taken up to one month earlier.
"(FIFA) recently reviewed the current drug-testing
procedures within football and come up with a new approach," the governing
body said in a statement. "The main, new aim will be to capture players'
individual steroid profile." FIFA announced the pilot project as the
competition draw featuring the six continental champions and the host nation's
league winner was made in Nagoya, Japan.
Teams including Barcelona, the European champions containing
Messi, and Brazilian club Santos, the South American winners featuring Neymar,
will have to provide details of their whereabouts for testers to collect
samples.
"Every club will be required to provide FIFA with
accurate details of their team activities (matches, training schedule etc.)
during the period from Nov. 14 to Dec. 8," FIFA said.
FIFA medical officials has consulted the International
Cycling Union, which pioneered the biological passport in sports as a more
efficient and effective method in the fight against doping.
The UCI repeatedly takes riders' blood samples to measure
the effects of doping rather than test for banned drugs.
FIFA's worst case of steroid use in recent years involved
North Korea players at the Womens' World Cup in June.
North Korea was kicked out of the 2015 event and five
players were banned for between 14 and 18 months after testing positive for
steroids. Officials said they were treated with a traditional musk deer gland
therapy after being struck by lightning at a pre-tournament training camp.
The Club World Cup lineup also includes African champion
Esperance of Tunisia, Asian champion Al-Sadd of Qatar, Mexico's Monterrey
representing CONCACAF and New Zealand's Auckland City from Oceania. The
Japanese league title race is still undecided.
Auckland will play Japan's champion in a preliminary round
to decide who advances to play Monterrey. The winner of that match takes on
Santos in the semifinals in Toyota.
The other half of the draw pits Esperance against Al-Sadd
for the right to play Barcelona in the semifinals in Yokohama.
The final will be played Dec. 18 in Yokohama.
