How prevalent is doping in football?

They are hardly ever tested for performance enhancing drugs, so it will be absolutely rife. Athletics and cycling do a lot of testing and they still take them and usually have ways of getting round the testing. Naive in the extreme to think footballers aren't all over it when the rewards are huge and the risks of being caught are minimal.
 
Messi mustve been the first with the growth hormones

Leon Goretxa before and after pictures. Bayern will be up to all sorts of bio engineering
 
I believe the epo levels at man city were tested and were all on the line for maximum possible natural level. That fact in itself is impossible without a doping regime. I am pretty sure the doctor follows Pep everywhere he goes
 
Its the elephant in the room. Has been for the past few years

Too much money at stake for it to be exposed. But like anything widespread the truth will eventually out

Leicester City’s league win was tip of the iceberg - the only ‘fairytale’ about it was the fact it wasn’t real
 
It’s supposedly rife in German, blood spinning, growth hormones etc etc. The two high profile ones recently are Leon Goreztka his very questionable physical changes and the story below.


 
For a sport like football and the money involved I'd hazard a guess it's rife, with testing being pretty much non existent.

How many players have been done, even just in Scotland.

Jordan McMillan? And even the story behind that is dodgy and probably has a lot to do with the company he keeps.

I mean back in the 70's George Best was legendary for going on 3 and 4 day benders. Now I'm no toxicology expert, but what I do know is if you're drinking heavily, you can't stay up for days without a little white powder pick me up. Its the elephant in the room.

Outside football. Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, Alan Iversen, notorious for their week-long parties. Without a doubt fuelled by the finest Peruvian money can buy.

UFC. Check the amount if guys who were elite level. USADA was introduced and they miraculously fell off a cliff.
6,7,8 fight win streaks. Then lucky to win 1 in 5 after USADA.

I've no doubt football is rife with it.

Conor McGregor was definitely 'on it', both PEDs and gear. His body transformation is obvious.

I'd say Manny Pacquiao was juicing as well considering his head grew in size over the years.
 
I think it's pretty prevalent, but that's based on total conjecture.

And I'd say I do care, because the richer and bigger clubs will have even more of an advantage in this case.
Rickson tells a similar story in his book from his time at Zenit. Some wild stuff going on.

The testing regime has ramped up recently. EPL and SPFL players need to be available at all times for dope testing.
They can receive a phone call any day, any time and they have to make themselves available for a test. I would think that would deter some of the higher profile players?

The governing bodies in the UK at least, know there is a significant problem and they are trying to deal with it.
It’s cheating, plain and simple but more games equals more money for those in power, and the players are asked to perform at a level beyond that which is safe and reasonable in my opinion.
 

A lot of ITK and a lot of mental conspiracy theorists as well. Makes for an entertaining read most of the time.

Maybe some of the back road cyclists between Torrance and Bearsden should be juicing to avoid upsetting the poor Q7 and white van drivers that can't wait 20 seconds to safely pass.
 
With the number of matches, limited recovery time and the seemingly ever-increasing performance levels that players must attain are we, as football fans, daft to think doping isn’t currently widespread in football?

Relatively low-interest sports such as cycling typically come to mind when this subject comes up, but considering the billions of £ at stake in the highest level, I’d be shocked if there isn’t a ton of performance-enhancing drugs being taken in our sport.

It’s pretty much common knowledge now that Messi was on human growth hormone. After Klopp came in at Liverpool a large number of players started taking asthma medications. Even Guardiola, best manager in the world currently, was banned for taking anabolic steroids which no-one seems to remember (it had slipped my mind anyway). I suppose a better question might be: if doping is widespread in football, do you even care?
Pep was at the tail end of his career at Brescia which is probably why no one recalls this.
 
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Remember Flo Jo. Quads like a man. Shattering world records, Won 3 Olympic gold medals and presumably numerous lucrative endorsements and then died 10 years later of an "epileptic seizure"

Five minutes of fame and 40 years off your life. Worth it?
 
They are hardly ever tested for performance enhancing drugs, so it will be absolutely rife. Athletics and cycling do a lot of testing and they still take them and usually have ways of getting round the testing. Naive in the extreme to think footballers aren't all over it when the rewards are huge and the risks of being caught are minimal.
Mo Farah trains in the wilderness to avoid out of competition testing. He’s a great example of a mediocre athlete achieving super human improvements in a short time frame.
 
In 2013 a Spanish judge ordered the destruction of around 200 blood samples taken from elite athletes that included cyclists, footballers, tennis players etc. His action seriously undermined an investigation into widespread “doping” and called into question the credibility of anyone connected to the facilitator Dr Fuentes.
So it’s probably possible that it’s been going on for some time.

I was convinced Torres was one of these players as his form fell off a cliff
 
The pressure to be bigger, faster & stronger starts in the football academies and the county-level football at age 12.
There is no way that by the time you have players on the cusp of signing professional contracts, there isn’t enormous temptation/influence to give nature a helping hand in the development of teenage boys.
You see the amount of heart issues coming to the fore over recent years and I just can’t think that is any kind of coincidence.

Like was said earlier in the thread, put multi-million pound prizes on offer and people will get up to all manner of skulduggery to secure some of it for themselves.
 
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Samir Nasri was at it and got caught by putting a photo on Instagram if I’m right.
Spot on. He was in America during the close season and posted a couple of photos of him going through the procedure. I think he got a lengthy ban?
 
Spot on. He was in America during the close season and posted a couple of photos of him going through the procedure. I think he got a lengthy ban?
Did he not also have a fling with one of the nurses in one of the pictures?
 
Spot on. He was in America during the close season and posted a couple of photos of him going through the procedure. I think he got a lengthy ban?
18 months or something. Pretty sure he was shagging the nurse who was doing it for him as well :))
 
There was a programme on Netflix called ‘Screwball’ about a guy who supplied PED’s to a lot of athletes mainly baseball and the scandal it caused.

Good watch!
 
It would be interesting to know how many drug tests the SFA conduct a year as was a point back in 2016 they couldn't afford to do it apparently and only done 8 drug tests in 9 months! Even then it will be SPFL Premier League and Scottish Cup only so the guys in lower leagues and perhaps women could probably do what they wanted with little chance of being caught.

 
Mo Farah trains in the wilderness to avoid out of competition testing. He’s a great example of a mediocre athlete achieving super human improvements in a short time frame.
Long-distance running is another very dirty sport.

Look at Kelvin Kiptum, 23 years old no one had ever heard of. Runs his first pro marathon at Valencia this year, and runs the fourth fastest marathon time ever. 4 months later in London, runs the second fastest marathon time ever, 16 seconds off the world record. I think he will run sub 2 hours at Berlin this year. .
 
I believe the epo levels at man city were tested and were all on the line for maximum possible natural level. That fact in itself is impossible without a doping regime. I am pretty sure the doctor follows Pep everywhere he goes
I maybe say that's an easy assumption but when you can employ the best medical staff and players willing to go the extra mile it may seem that way.
Football players nowhere near the max of physical limits as boxing for example. Too many games to go all out, so the need to manage the body/appearances is important for future contracts and security. Rewards remain the same for success or failure without the cutthroat financial implications of failure. Still amazing athletes these days but have the luxury of not worrying if body fails.
So, to me, dont see the same pressure for gaining fitness thru doping.
 
Gary O’Connor tells a story about playing for Lokomotiv Moscow, they’d have a guy come in to extract their blood, then ‘clean it’ and put it back in.

Nothing dodgy about that.

They were just cleaning the ching and smack out of his junkie spoon burning blood.
 
He did, many believe he is still taking them and uses the old condition as a smoke screen to keep going.
The old condition? He had a hormone deficiency as a child that was going to stop him reaching a relatively normal adult height. He was given hormones to bring his levels up to that of a normal child. No different to diabetics taking insulin to regulate their blood sugar.

So given he’s a 35 year old man now and been fully grown since he was about 17/18. How in the name of %^*& would he use a deficiency as a child to get away with taking them as an adult? And wouldn’t he be stronger and quicker than everyone else? Absolute loonies :))

I have no doubt PEDs are rife in top flight football though. They’ll be prevalent in most sports.
 
There are the obvious cases being teams using inhalers etc live Liverpool or more on the line enhancers like caffeine etc that we have used in the past.

But to be honest I look at the likes of any Pep team, Messi and Ronaldos consistency, the transformation of Bale and Lewandowski as 2 examples over the years, or Napoli this season and think there is absolutely no way they haven’t been juicing up, it’s hard to explain that level of over performance otherwise.
Bayern Munich are doping without a shadow of a doubt. Also wonder about Real Madrid as well tbh. Modric, Ronaldo, Kroos and Benzema’s mid 30’s performance is insane.
 
In 2013 a Spanish judge ordered the destruction of around 200 blood samples taken from elite athletes that included cyclists, footballers, tennis players etc. His action seriously undermined an investigation into widespread “doping” and called into question the credibility of anyone connected to the facilitator Dr Fuentes.
So it’s probably possible that it’s been going on for some time.
And one of the reasons that it was only ever cyclists that were named in the investigation into that was that elite level cycling has a biological passport system that allowed them to trace them.
Re doping in football anyone that thinks it doesn’t happen is probably in denial at best. Sure it won’t help with the skills or technical side of the game but if it allows a player to run about to their max the same way in thr 90th minute as the 1st you can be sure it’ll be happening.
Juve we’re pretty heavily implicated in a doping scandal mid-90s but have always denied it. https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...inal-doping-cheating-calciopoli-a8860746.html
 
The pressure to be bigger, faster & stronger starts in the football academies and the county-level football at age 12.
There is no way that by the time you have players on the cusp of signing professional contracts, there isn’t enormous temptation/influence to give nature a helping hand in the development of teenage boys.
You see the amount of heart issues coming to the fore over recent years and I just can’t think that is any kind of coincidence.

Like was said earlier in the thread, put multi-million pound prizes on offer and people will get up to all manner of skulduggery to secure some of it for themselves.
Its absolutely rife in South Africa among the young schoolboys playing rugby. Incredibly dangerous as it is more often than not administered by their coaches.
 
Interesting article

 
Always seems to be those devious Russians, Geeermans, Italians, Spanish and English.

Would never happen in fine upstanding Scotland.
 
The old condition? He had a hormone deficiency as a child that was going to stop him reaching a relatively normal adult height. He was given hormones to bring his levels up to that of a normal child. No different to diabetics taking insulin to regulate their blood sugar.

So given he’s a 35 year old man now and been fully grown since he was about 17/18. How in the name of %^*& would he use a deficiency as a child to get away with taking them as an adult? And wouldn’t he be stronger and quicker than everyone else? Absolute loonies :))

I really don't know much about these things tbf but I'd imagine an adult Messi on HGH treatment wouldn't automatically become stronger than Virgil Van Dijk or quicker than Mbappe. Not sure that's how it works. There's guys at my gym who are on the juice, but I still see them every day working crazy hard in their workouts, they don't just pop huge muscles overnight.

Graham Hunter (I know) says quite categorically in this below interview that Xavi was on HGH to aid recovery, and that many players are on it.

 
I really don't know much about these things tbf but I'd imagine an adult Messi on HGH treatment wouldn't automatically become stronger than Virgil Van Dijk or quicker than Mbappe. Not sure that's how it works. There's guys at my gym who are on the juice, but I still see them every day working crazy hard in their workouts, they don't just pop huge muscles overnight.

Graham Hunter (I know) says quite categorically in this below interview that Xavi was on HGH to aid recovery, and that many players are on it.

What effect would it have then? Stamina? Avoiding injuries? Except he’s had various injuries in recent years that have kept him out for a decent length of time and people regularly talk about how little he runs during games and how he sometimes looks gassed. There’s absolutely nothing about his game that suggests he might be on PEDs. His entire game is centred around his vision, his ball control and his ability to finish and pass. I don’t think there’s a drug in the world that can improve any of those.

Maybe they are all at it though, who knows really? But the idea a 35 year old Messi is still taking HGH on the premise he’s not yet reached his full adult height or might shrink if he stops taking it is hilarious :))
 
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Performance enhancing is a bit of a minefield.

So many men are low in testosterone, would undergoing testosterone replacement therapy equate to performance enhancing?
 
During the 90s the Festina cycling team was doping on an industrial scale. During the investigation it was found that performance enhancing drugs were being used in all major sporting events globally and the amount of private companies involved in trying to find a way to mask these results was incredible.
I have no doubt that it still is on.
 
Interesting article

Garry O'Connor is... well... all those things they say he is. But anyone who would trust the word of Russian officials of any kind needs to lay off the glue too
 
The amount of PED's used across all high level sport is enormous, to think football is exempt is fantasy. Even sports with strict testing are still full of drug cheats, testing in football is far from strict.

The destroyed samples in Spain, investigations in Germany, use of inhalers at Liverpool, the anomalies in Russia... It's absolutely rife. With the type of money on the line, it won't change.
 
With the number of matches, limited recovery time and the seemingly ever-increasing performance levels that players must attain are we, as football fans, daft to think doping isn’t currently widespread in football?

Relatively low-interest sports such as cycling typically come to mind when this subject comes up, but considering the billions of £ at stake in the highest level, I’d be shocked if there isn’t a ton of performance-enhancing drugs being taken in our sport.

It’s pretty much common knowledge now that Messi was on human growth hormone. After Klopp came in at Liverpool a large number of players started taking asthma medications. Even Guardiola, best manager in the world currently, was banned for taking anabolic steroids which no-one seems to remember (it had slipped my mind anyway). I suppose a better question might be: if doping is widespread in football, do you even care?
I'm sure Maradona was on the growth hormones as well.
 
I believe the epo levels at man city were tested and were all on the line for maximum possible natural level. That fact in itself is impossible without a doping regime. I am pretty sure the doctor follows Pep everywhere he goes
Pep’s teams have been smacked up to the max since he started.
He was a junkie bastard himself as a player. Absolutely no danger he’s not encouraging it as a manager.
 
It’ll be very sad to see future correlation to cancers in football players if they are blood spinning, it’s just an incredibly stupid thing to do increasing cell energy leads to rapid cell growth and abnormality,

Lance Armstrong was famous for it look how many cancers he got, it’s worrying this is still going on in pro sport
 
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