FIFA announced before the event began that there was ‘insufficient’ evidence to prosecute any of the current 23-man squad for doping violations. Yet Russia’s stunning sporting performances are happening against a backdrop of fresh concerns about the nation’s sporting integrity and FIFA’s inaction on Russian doping, as The Mail on Sunday can reveal:
- There is strong evidence that elite Russian footballers were beneficiaries of widespread state-sponsored doping and cover-ups, and were part of the scandal that shamed Russia and got them banned from the Olympics;
- One case involved Russia international Ruslan Kambolov, who failed a drugs test for a banned steroid in May 2015, but had his case covered up and, until last month, was in Russia’s World Cup squad;
- There is email evidence, backed up by diary evidence and oral evidence from former Moscow anti-doping lab boss turned whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, that Kambolov’s test failure was covered up then made to ‘disappear’ on the orders of Russia’s sports ministry;
- Kambolov does not even deny he tested positive for a steroid — dexamethasone — but his lawyer says he was allowed to take it out of competition. Yet documentary evidence shows his tainted sample was swapped by Russian intelligence forces for the clean urine of another sportsman from a different sport, which itself is an infringement;
- FIFA did not know about that case or dozens of alleged others when they happened because Russia covered them up. FIFA only found out after WADA-appointed investigators gathered evidence.
Kambolov’s case is just one of at least 34 alleged Russian football ‘dope conspiracy’ cases FIFA have since learned about but have been sitting on for 18 months; 23 of them involved Russia’s 2014 World Cup squad, as first detailed a year ago by The Mail on Sunday.
FIFA continue to refuse to disclose any details of the case, or the identities of the individuals undertaking their ‘investigation’ into the matter, or explain with any detail how that has unfolded or when it will conclude.
Pound, the most respected figure in global anti-doping, believes FIFA have been worried that outing Russian doping in football would have discredited this World Cup. ‘FIFA should have had something in place to give credibility to their investigation,’ he said.
‘If not an independent investigation then at least an independent party involved in some capacity. FIFA are a governing body who have never had any robust anti-doping policy. Consultation [with WADA] is not the same as saying FIFA have adhered to WADA policy.’
Asked if he believes Russia have taken doping seriously, Pound said: ‘I see that the Sochi laboratory [where the doping corruption of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games took place] is now a restaurant and bar where the menu includes a Duchess Cocktail [named after a doping cocktail of drugs]. This doesn’t strike me as a place where the systematic doping is seen as serious. They literally treat it as a joke.’
