Spanish football league to test for EPO

Testing will be carried out for the first time this season in the Spanish football league for users of the banned performance-boosting drug EPO, the sports daily AS reported Saturday.

The controls, based on the model already in operation in the Italian, French and Greek leagues, will be from urine samples and not blood which is not permitted in Spanish football.

"The method used in Italy is very similar to that which we use," said national anti-doping commission coordinator Jose Antonio Casajsus.

"The only difference is that there they take more samples, some 5,000 a year. About 1,300 tests will be carried out in football, between the ordinary controls and spot checks," said Casajsus, who is also a member of the Spanish football federation (RFEF) medical service.

The move follows accusations, notably from AS Roma coach Fabio Capello who formerly coached Real Madrid, that doping is rife in Spanish football.

Capello has also called for blood testing in the Champions League.

EPO (erythropoietine) stimulates red blood cell production and is normally produced in the kidney and liver. Using an artifical form of EPO allows athletes to boost oxygen production allowing muscles to work harder and for longer.