Abstract des Autors

In light of this sparse academic literature, and official proclamations about the absence of doping in football, the central object of this chapter is to collate evidence on the extent of drug use in professional football. Reflecting the language and geographical bias of the authors we focus mainly on the game in Europe and, in particular, the :UK. Our primary method is to triangulate data from multiple sources. In particular we draw on each of the four major sources of information on the extent of drug use in sport: testing programmes; surveys; investigative journalism, including the writings and testimonials of athletes and others involved in sport; and government investigations. Each of these data sources raises methodological difficulties of one kind or another; however, taken together, they provide us with the most adequate assessment of the prevalence of the use of illicit drugs in football possible. However, before we focus on the evidence that has emerged about doping in football in the last 20 years, we need to contextualize our understanding with a brief examination of the longer term history of drug use in professional football. (geändert)