Blatter: Football has drug problem
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Blatter: "Our game is not clean."
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FRANKFURT, Germany -- FIFA president Sepp Blatter has admitted that football has a doping problem and vowed to enforce stricter controls to clean up the sport.
"Our game is not clean," Blatter told a news conference after FIFA's executive committee meeting. "There is now a suspicion surrounding football."
Blatter also criticized the English Football Association over its handling of the Rio Ferdinand case.
The Manchester United defender missed a drugs test in September but has yet to face an FA hearing.
"The situation has changed on doping," said Blatter, who said in October that football did not have a problem with drugs.
"I was wrong saying there was no problem with doping. I have never seen, in a doping control, someone not declare their innocence. If we want to make our sport clean we need to work on that.
"It is not just the players but the people who employ them -- the clubs, the leagues and the national associations. The Executive Committee has given me a mandate today to be strict, stricter than we have been before and given me the power to act," added Blatter, who said he would prepare a dossier on doping in football before the end of the year.
Ferdinand may have to wait until the New Year for a decision in his doping case. The defender, who missed a drugs test on September 23, has been allowed to play for Manchester United but not for England.
Any subsequent suspension could cost him his place at next year's European Championships in Portugal.
"This case should have been dealt with in a week," said Blatter.
"Perhaps he is innocent, if he is, declare him innocent and do it immediately. But if a player is under suspicion or chooses not to undergo a doping control he must be considered ineligible for as long as the case is not dealt with.
"This is not the way things must be done. We, the parliament of FIFA, will start to use our rights and our responsibilities to control football. We must avoid the game being brought into disrepute."
