Malawi National Football Team players should brace up for random doping tests as Fifa has intensified the campaign in all its sanctioned competitions.
This comes at a time officials from Fifa Anti-Doping Unit conducted random tests for some of the Flames players in two consecutive 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers against Namibia and Tunisia.
The players were selected randomly for testing before and after matches.
Two Flames players (names withheld) were selected for doping tests during the Flames 2-0 loss to Tunisia at Stade Olympique Hammadi Agrebi last month.
Some Tunisia players were also tested for doping as part of the exercise.
Two more Flames players were selected for the tests before the match against Namibia recently.
Several Flames players underwent a similar test in the Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
So far, all the Flames players have tested negative.
Football Association of Malawi (Fam) Competitions and Communications Director Gomezgani Zakazaka said there was no need to panic.
“It [the test] is done randomly. They [officials] select some matches for the exercise,” he said.
Meanwhile, Malawi Anti-Doping Organisation (Mado) Chairperson James Mwenda has said routine doping tests are conducted in all international matches.
“It is normal. They do routine doping tests and players are picked randomly. It does not mean they are suspected,” Mwenda, who is also the country’s representative of Africa Zone V1 Regional Ant- Doping Organisation (Rado), said.
Mwenda said his organisation, in conjunction with Fam, conducts regular education sessions on the issue when national team players are in camp.
“Players have to know that in international competitions, they can be tested any time. What we, as Mado, do is to partner associations when their respective teams are in camp preparing for international competitions,” he said.
The Fifa website states that to make sure that football stays clean, random doping controls are conducted.
The process is managed by the Fifa Anti-Doping Unit for all Fifa Competitions.
For instance, after the final whistle, a chaperone may greet a player as they leave the pitch and let them know that they have been selected for a doping control test.
Urine and blood samples are then collected.
If a player fails to submit a sample or refuses, evades or tampers with any part of a doping control, it counts as an anti-doping violation and the player can be banned.
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