LONDON (AP) – The players finished their soccer matches and huddled waiting to discover who would have to undergo doping tests. The random draw completed, two men went off to provide urine samples.
They just had to put their controllers down first.
Less than three weeks after the World Cup finished, the finals of the video gaming version are being staged by FIFA in London with competitors being tested for performance-enhancing substances for the first time, just like players on the field in Russia.
“It’s great as you think you are a superstar,” Saudi Arabian player Mosaad Aldossary, who competes as “Msdossary,” said after being tested. “They usually do it for Cristiano Ronaldo and every top player. So you think you are one of them.”
Just like Ronaldo, there is no circumventing having to urinate in front of the tester to provide the sample – however long it takes.