In August 2019 the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Royal Netherlands Football Association and the football players Denzel Dumfries and Marco Bizot for their failure to submit to sample collection.
The UEFA Doping Control Officer (DCO) reported that on 21 March 2019 the players did not report to the Doping Control Station straight from the pitch as soon as the match was over, which resulted in the DCO having to look for them.
The KNVB acknowledged the failure and stated that there was no intenton to breach the UEFA Anti-Doping Regulations. The KNVB explained that normally the team's doctor guided the players, yet he was unavailable to do this because of the injury of another player, whereas there were also no chaperones present at the match.
The Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) finds that the anti-doping rule violations have been established and that it was undisputed by the KNVB and the players.
The CEDB deems that it is of utmost importance, in order to ensure the functioning and efficiency of the UEFA anti-doping programme, that KNVB and players respect and follow the regulations set out by UEFA and act diligently when implementing such regulations.
Therefore the CEDB decides on 25 April 2019:
- To warn the Royal Netherlands Football Association for the doping offence, i.e. for not ensuring that the players selected for sample collection report to the doping control station straight from the pitch as soon as the match is over.
- To warn the Royal Netherlands Football Association player Dumfries Denzel Justus Morris for the doping offence, i.e. for not reporting to the Doping Control Station directly after the end of the match.
- To warn the Royal Netherlands Football Association player Bizot Marco for the doping offence, i.e. for not reporting to the Doping Control Station directly after the end of the match.
- The Royal Netherlands Football Association ensures the players are informed personally of this decision.
