FIFA signs up to anti-doping agreement

WORLD football's governing body has agreed to fall into line with the global anti-doping programme provided it can run its own show.

In what was described by both parties as an "historic agreement", FIFA president Sepp Blatter and World Anti-Doping Agency chairman Dick Pound finally signed a co-operation agreement in the fight against the drug cheats, eliminating the danger of football being thrown out of the Athens Olympic Games in August.

The declaration gave football the authority to impose its own individual sanctions whenever doping rules are infringed without having to abide by any blanket ban.