Soccer-Players face blood tests at Euro 2008

By Harry Miltner

VIENNA, March 12 (Reuters) - Players at Euro 2008 will face blood as well as urine tests for the first time at a European Championship, after UEFA announced stiffer anti-doping controls on Wednesday.

All 16 Football Associations taking part in the tournament signed an Anti-Doping Charter in Vienna agreeing to the tests, which will be conducted at team training camps as well as after matches.

"With this treaty we want to show that we are fighting doping and supporting the WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) cause," UEFA president Michael Platini said at a news conference.

The controls will enable detection of growth hormone, the blood-boosting drug EPO and foreign blood transfusion, UEFA said.

"We will test the teams unannounced prior to the tournament and then also during the event," Marc Vouillamoz, head of UEFA's anti-doping unit, told reporters.

"At the pre-event testing, we will take blood and urine samples of 10 players per team. We will also take two players per side after the final whistle of each of the 31 matches and test them."

Samples taken during the tournament will be tested in Lausanne and the results will be available within 48 hours, UEFA said.

Platini added that he did not think doping was a significant problem in the game.