Athens – A senior official from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Thursday said the biggest challenge it faced was for sports governing bodies such as football’s FIFA to ensure that doping test rules are implemented.

“The biggest challenge remains for every stakeholder and doping agency to conduct out-of-competition tests,” WADA Vice Chairman Arne Ljungqvist told the German Press Agency dpa.

Since the beginning of January, the WADA code requires elite athletes to give notice of their location on a chosen one-hour period each day, seven days a week.

FIFA and the European body UEFA have rejected the notion of having to inform doping officials of the individual location of team-sports athletes under the “whereabouts rule.”

Both footballing bodies have pressed for changes, saying testing should only apply to teams and not to individual players. They have also said testing for team players should only take place at club training facilities and not during holiday periodsto respect their private lives.

According to Ljungqvist, FIFA has agreed with the new rules and remained “fully loyal” to WADA codes.

He said on the sidelines of an anti-doping conference organised in Greece by the European Commission that football’s ruling body would not receive any special treatment.

Ljungqvist, who is also the International Olympic Committee medical chief, said many sports federations like UEFA remained out of date on the idea to out-of-competition drugs testing while other sporting federations like athletics have been living with the idea for years.

He said when WADA was first created in 1999 only six or seven international federations conducted out-of-competition drugs testing.

“Athletes and sporting federation will have to get used to the idea of out-of-competition doping testing rules…a review will be conducted at the end of the year,” he said. (dpa)