Spain’s anti-doping agency, CELAD, has come under serious scrutiny in over the past 18 months, after a series of malpractice incidents were uncovered. At one point it even threatened the participation of Spanish athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
In terms of football, the most high-profile case is Alejandro ‘Papu’ Gomez, the former Sevilla player who tested positive for a banned substance in 2022. Months later he would go on to win the World Cup with Argentina, as the investigation was in process, and he has since been banned for two years from football. Gomez still claims his innocence, saying he unwittingly ingested the substance as medicine.
According to Relevo, between 2017 and 2021, CELAD archived 11 cases relating to positive tests from footballers without opening an investigation. The reason given was a ‘medical justification’ for the positive substance, following the initial proceedings being opened, and was accepted by CELAD without further questions. The cases were archived, and to all intents and purposes, did not happen, a practice that is not permitted by protocol.
A sixth case, involving Rayo Vallecano forward Raul de Tomas, did see an investigation opened, and the result was deemed to be contamination of the sample in 2017. He was given a symbolic punishment of a month-long ban and a €3k fine, when the stipulated sanction is a four-year ban.
One of the archived cases relates to then Almeria midfielder Yan Eteki in 2017, who was given Betamethasone by the Almeria medical staff without requesting a special medical permit for its use. That case was one of those archived without following the protocol.
Over the past year, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has been working with CELAD to improve practices, with the latter working to show that they do adhere to the standards required by WADA.
