FIFA falling into line over drugs
ZURICH, Switzerland (Reuters) -- World football's governing body FIFA is to adopt the World Anti-Doping Code in May, officials announced on Wednesday.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter met Dick Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), in Zurich and they have agreed to finalize a formal agreement on doping matters.
The decision means that cycling will become the only major Olympic sport left outside the WADA agreement.
FIFA said in a statement it would formally adopt the World Anti-Doping Code at the FIFA Centennial Congress in Paris, due to be held in May.
"Finalizing FIFA and WADA's commitment to each other can only serve to strengthen our common objectives in the fight against doping in sport," said Blatter.
"I am immensely pleased that today we have put ourselves on the right track, for both FIFA and WADA have every reason to make this agreement work."
Blatter and Pound reached agreement on several issues, including the concept of individual case management, which FIFA is keen to use rather than apply a standard two-year ban to all offenders.
The agreements will be presented to FIFA's executive committee in London on February 29 for ratification, FIFA said.
A meeting will then be held in March to discuss the matter further before the FIFA Centennial Congress in May.
The agreement appears to bring together two organizations who have been close to, and then far from agreeing on a deal for almost a year.
Last November Pound said that an agreement had been reached with FIFA over sanctions for players caught using illicit performance-enhancing drugs.
But Pound then criticised FIFA and football in general for the way the Rio Ferdinand case had been handled.
The Manchester United and England defender failed to take a doping test on September 23, and although he was subsequently banned for eight months, the case took three months to be dealt with by the English FA.
WADA was established by the International Olympic Committee in 1999 to help eradicate the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport.
