FIFA knew of Russian soccer doping, did nothing, new investigation finds

Vitaly Mutko (left), the disgraced former Russian sports minister, with FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Russian president Vladimir Putin at the World Cup draw. (Getty)

FIFA refused to act on significant evidence of widespread doping in Russia soccer, according to a new investigative report from the Mail on Sunday that reinforces past reports of similar failures.

Soccer’s global governing body – which has, over the past two decades, been one of the most corrupt in sports – was aware of what the Mail calls “documentary proof of institutional cover-ups” 18 months before the start of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The Mail had previously reported that all 23 members of Russia’s 2014 World Cup squad were among dozens of players under investigation. FIFA, though, was reportedly slow to seek evidence. And last month it cleared all 28 members of Russia’s 2018 preliminary squad, citing “insufficient evidence.”

A week earlier, however, a 29th player had been removed from the squad. His name is Ruslan Kambolov. And his case is crucial.

Kambolov, according to the Mail investigation, failed a drug test in 2015. Two weeks later, his urine sample was swapped out for a clean one, and he was never punished. The Mail details the scheme in depth, citing various documents and other evidence.

FIFA did not know of Kombalov’s failed test at the time. But it was handed all that evidence in December 2016. It was all included in Part II of the McLaren Report, an independent investigation, commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), into Russia’s state-sponsored scheme. It’s the same report that was behind Russia’s 2018 Olympic ban.

Richard McLaren, the author of the report, met with FIFA in 2017 to further detail the evidence. And, he told the Mail, “Since then, I’ve heard nothing. I don’t know why they haven’t acted.”

Kambolov, meanwhile, was originally on Russia’s 28-man provisional roster for the 2018 World Cup. A week before FIFA announced it had cleared the entire squad of doping, though, Kambolov withdrew with a mysterious “injury.”

But why was he really replaced? “You have to draw your own conclusions,” McLaren told the Mail. “But it seems clear to me.”

Regardless, Kambolov has played for Russia. He was on the 2017 Confederations Cup roster. So, as the Mail writes: “The Kambolov case is hugely significant because it ends any debate that football as a sport benefited from Russia’s notorious scam — or that FIFA knew that but still judged Russia fit to host this World Cup.”

Well, there’s the not-so-small matter of its banner event, which is currently being held in the country that sponsored all this doping. That event is FIFA’s main source of revenue. FIFA’s main incentive, therefore, is to ensure the 2018 World Cup goes on without incident or controversy.

In other words, as former WADA chief Dick Pound told the Mail, the reason is “obvious.” FIFA, as Pound said, has “the matter of billions of dollars at stake in having a hassle-free World Cup.”

Investigators told the Mail that the 155 doping cases they found were only the “tip of the iceberg,” and thought the “paperwork, testimony and other corroboration” associated with 34 of the 155 would be sufficient for FIFA. And maybe it eventually will be sufficient. Maybe FIFA will eventually act.

But FIFA was never going to act before the 2018 World Cup.

What is FIFA’s side of the story?

FIFA has put its side of the story into an FAQ-style, two-plus page document. If you were to read it in a vacuum, it’d be satisfactory and perhaps even convincing.

But when you consider FIFA’s history of lies and deceit, and the many media reports that contradict that document, it’s wholly unsatisfactory. It has been branded “mendacious, misleading, self-serving and evasive.”

The Mail also put 12 specific questions to FIFA before dropping its report. FIFA answered zero of them:

We asked FIFA 12 detailed questions about why they have, effectively, assisted in Russia's state-sponsored doping and cover-ups in football. These are the questions, and FIFA's answers. pic.twitter.com/XA9rNwfw6l — Nick Harris (@sportingintel) June 23, 2018

Russia’s soccer federation, its sports ministry, and Vitaly Mutko – the former Russian minister of sport who has been deeply involved in soccer, and who was banned for life by the International Olympic Committee for his complicity in the doping scheme – also declined comment to the Mail.