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President of the National Anti-Doping Agency (ANAD), Cristian Balaj, told a press conference on Thursday that only 122 doping controls have been performed among footballers in 2019, although the total of collected samples was 2,450; Balaj mentioned that Liga I organizer, the Professional Football League (LPF), has requested no doping test.
"In 2019 we had 122 doping controls on footballers, 98 were carried out by us, the Romanian Football Federation had 12 orders, the Romanian Olympic and Sporting Committee (COSR) - 12, and the Professional Football League had none. COSR required testing for the team that will participate in the Olympic Games. The Professional Football League, which - in its capacity as competition organizer, has by far the largest budget in the country and should ensure the participants' peace of mind knowing that they comply with all the legal requirements for competing, has ordered no check," Balaj said.
The ANAD official said that, according to the world code, the LPF should every year allocate money for doping tests: "They are open, they present us the competition program for us to perform the checks, but according to the world sports code that requires all clubs, leagues or federations to assign budget money for doping controls on athletes, this is more than one control. As the Romanian Football Federation has also adhered to the world code (and the Professional Football League is somehow subordinated to the Federation), the Federation must comply with the requirements of the code and with Romanian law. For the moment we are still in talks and there's an inter-ministerial working group tasked with establishing a way of collaboration so as to not jeopardize their functioning. We don't want to destabilize them, but just waiting to receive isn't fair, one has to offer too," said Cristian Balaj.
