Doping in Soccer?

"International and domestic soccer is not a doping-free zone," Baumert told German public broadcaster SWR, according to news reports. "You don't have to be afraid if you say that doping still takes place in soccer."

The statements made in a radio interview instantly drew angry reactions from Germany's soccer federation, the DFB, which asked Baumert for details about is allegations.

Naming names

"He should give names and facts if he has concrete evidence of current doping practices in soccer," DFB spokesman Harald Stenger told DPA news service. "But if it's only a general suspicion then his statements are populist."

Baumert said that the DFB carried out 800 drug tests last year, but that only 87 of them were random tests. He said that NADA and the DFB will raise the number of out-of-competition tests in the future.

More tests?

DFB head Theo Zwanziger said the DFB was ready in principle to pay for more random tests carried out by NADA.

"We'll check who NADA can be used more effectively for doping tests during training sessions," he told WDR public radio, adding that the anti-doping agency would receive money from the DFB for services rendered.

"We're not, however, financing this agency," Zwanziger said. "We have clubs that we have to support."

A history of doping

The soccer-doping issue was raised again recently by coach Peter Neururer, who said that doping with the stimulant fenetylline (also known as captagon) was common practice in the Bundesliga in the 1980s.

Players in former communist East Germany's soccer clubs were also allegedly doped and received amphetamines ahead of European Cup games at home, according to news reports.

Several former players confirmed Neururer's statements, but there will be no sanctions because of the DFB's eight-year statute of limitations.