Related case:
TJD-AD 2023-002 Appeal Decision - Football
March 13. 2023
In January 2022 the Brazilian Doping Control Authority (ABCD) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the manager of a football club for tampering with any part of the doping control process. The Manager filed a statement in his defence and the case was referred to the Brazilian Sports Justice Anti-Doping Tribunal (TJD-AD)
The Doping Control Officers (DCOs) reported that during out-of-competition doping control in November 2021 the manager obstructed the DCOs to approach immediately the football players and thereupon prevented the DCOs to keep these players under supervision after notification.
The manager of the football club denied he acted intentionally and requested for a reduced sanction. He only had requested the DCOs not to enter the field during training while access to the locker room was prevented due to COVID-19 measures.
The manager asserted that ultimately all the football players were notified and tested by the DCOs. Futhermore no football player was tested positive and the next doping control in November 2021 was conducted without issues.
Following assessment of the circumstances in this case the Rapporteur finds that the doping control indeed was not conducted appropriately. However there are no grounds to conclude that the manager had attempted to obstruct the doping control.
In view of the evidence the Rapporteur accepts that the football club had restricted the access to the locker room because of COVID-19 measures. In fact only people had access to the football club that had shown proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test result.
Therefore the TJD-AD Panel decides by majority on 7 November 2022 to dismiss the charge that the manager had attempted to tamper with any part of the doping control process. Accordingly the football club manager was acquitted.