Top players face new drug tests
England footballers and Premier League stars are to face Olympic-style, random out-of-competition drug testing.
Two players are tested after each match but in future 30 players could undergo a further five tests a year.
As with British Olympic athletes, they must reveal their location for an hour each day, including summer holidays.
Under the World Anti-Doping Agency code, football is required to align itself with Olympic and other team sports such as rugby and cricket.
UK Sport, the agency that funds Olympic sport and runs Britain's anti-doping programme, claims that the 'whereabouts ruling' has been working well for other sports for years.
John Steele, UK Sport's chief executive, told BBC Radio 5 Live: "This move, in partnership with the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), is really getting whereabouts into the professional soccer game, to bring them in line with other athletes and continue the fight against doping across all our sports.
"Anything we can do that furthers that battle is very positive."
The new tests will look for both performance-enhancing drugs and recreational substances.
HOW NEW TESTS WILL WORK
Expected to be introduced in July 2009
A testing pool of 30 players selected by UK Sport and the FA
Players must say where they will be for one hour each day in advance
Players can alter their location up to a minute before the hour in question
Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand received an eight-month ban for failing to attend a drugs test at the club's Carrington training ground in 2003.
And former Chelsea goalkeeper Mark Bosnich was sacked by the club and awarded a nine-month ban in the same year, having tested positive for cocaine.
Another Chelsea player, Adrian Mutu, was suspended by the Football Association for seven months in 2004 after failing a drugs test.
The practice of declaring an athlete's whereabouts for an hour each day in advance, to allow drugs tests to be administered at short notice, is common to Olympic sports such as cycling and athletics.
All British Olympians, regardless of their sport, were subject to similar tests and restrictions in the build-up to the Beijing Games and the same rules will apply to footballers.
Sprinter Christine Ohuruogu incurred a year-long ban from the sport in 2006 when she failed to turn up in her stated location, missing anti-doping testers on three occasions.
She also received a lifetime ban from the Olympic Games but the suspension was later overturned on appeal.
Ohuruogu and Ferdinand have been high-profile casualties of missed tests
However, players will be able to change their whereabouts with only one minute's notice.
For example, a player scheduled to arrive at a training ground at midday could alter his arrangements by text messaging anti-doping testers at one minute to noon, if he were stuck in traffic or held up at home.
Andy Parkinson, UK Sport's head of operations for a drug-free sport, insisted he was not setting out to make life difficult for footballers.
"The last thing we want is for football to be in that position where it doesn't focus enough - doesn't put controls in place - and suddenly finds itself a sport with a fantastic profile in a crisis," he told The Sun newspaper.
"The identity of the players on the list will be decided by UK Sport and the FA.
"We'll take into account behaviour of athletes in the past, long-term injuries, where maybe they disappeared to Eastern Europe for six months to get an injury sorted, or if they have had a (previous) doping violation."
It is reported that UK Sport and FA officials will meet in the next couple of months to draw up a players' register ahead of the move.
The scheme is expected to begin next season, with a new version of the Wada code set to be introduced on 1 January 2009.
