A test for the banned drug erythropoietin “in the near future” will be introduced by the Football Association after concerns were expressed by Arsenal’s manager Arsène Wenger that some of his overseas players displayed symptoms of EPO use when they joined the club.

An FA spokesman said, “We will be testing for EPO in the near future. We will be conducting 1,600 tests in the course of this season.”

From Guardian.co.uk:

“The FA has always wanted to be leading the way in the fight against doping and if a particular issue comes to light as a cause of concern we would want to be up there among the first to address it.”

EPO is a synthetic version of a hormone which boosts production of red blood cells and thus the body’s ability to carry oxygen. It improves endurance and first appeared in cycling in the late 1990s but its use has since spread to other sports. The FA, however, has never previously tested for EPO.

Wenger, speaking at a debate about football’s role on European integration in Brussels, said: “We have had some players come to us at Arsenal from other clubs abroad and their red blood cell count has been abnormally high. That kind of thing makes you wonder.

“There are clubs who dope their players without the players knowing. The club might say that they were being injected with vitamins and the player would not know that it was something different.”

The FA has given no timescale for introducing the urine test for EPO but is keen for emphasizing their determination to tackle drugs in football.

Tags: doping, drugs in football, EPO, erythropoietin

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