Russia doping scandal ‘has football link’

RUSSIAN football has been implicated in the country’s doping scandal only days before they face England in Marseille. Tonight on German television ARD, the national broadcaster which has led the way in exposing the state-sponsored doping programme that is now threatening Russia’s participation in the Rio Olympics, it will be alleged that sports minister and Russian Football Union president Vitaly Mutko covered up the positive test of a leading Russian footballer. Dick Pound, the former head of the World AntiDoping Agency, has consistently said the scandal almost certainly extends beyond athletics. Pound led the independent investigation which resulted in the suspension of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) amid claims that the accredited testing laboratory in Moscow had destroyed thousands of samples. Asked directly last year by Sportsmail if Russian footballers could have also benefited from a programme designed to enable their athletes to cheat, Pound said: ‘On the assumption that there has been a state-sponsored doping programme, then yes. It would be naive to think it’s only athletics.’ Mutko, who was the chairman of Russia’s successful bid to host the 2018 World Cup, has been a central figure in the controversy and only yesterday announced his desire to run for re-election. Reports in Spain last month claimed the Russian squad was being target-tested by UEFA doping officials at their training camp in Switzerland. At a UEFA anti-doping conference yesterday, Marc Vouillamoz, UEFA’s head of medical and antidoping, said the governing body will be keeping a close eye on the Russian team in France.