Football
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Germany coach Joachim Low: Doping does not have a place in football

World Cup-winning Germany coach Joachim Low has spoken out against doping in football, amid a widespread debate over the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Earlier this week, a research study by the independent Evaluation Commission Freiburg Sport Medicine claimed to have found proof of "systemic" doping in professional football in Germany in the late-1970s and early-1980s.

The statement linked 1984 Bundesliga champions Stuttgart and to a lesser degree Freiburg -- a second division club at that time -- to anabolic doping.

Ex-players, including Ottmar Hitzfeld, were quick to reject the allegations, while Stuttgart's former coach Hans-Jurgen Sundermann called them "absurd."

Low, a player for both clubs in the late-1970s and early-1980s, also commented on the allegations in an official German Football Association (DFB) statement, saying: "Doping has no place in football. I absolutely reject it. That was my stance as player, and it still is as the Germany coach today."

Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp also spoke out on the issue, saying that he does not believe there is widespread doping in football.

"Footballers are not systemic in this field, and they never have been," he said, and added that there might have been cases of doctors testing medication on players "without their knowledge."

On Thursday, former Bayern Munich and Germany player Paul Breitner told tz that he has always thought that doping existed in football, saying: "I don't blame anyone [because] I can imagine situations when people get weak and use doping. It happens everywhere in our society, not only in sports. We should stand by our doping past, and that's it. Today, we are doping free. That we can say."

Tz published an editorial on Thursday saying that while there is still no proof of "systemic doping," incidents in the past suggest that the misuse of drugs has been part of the sport and that the DFB needs to do all it can to resolve the matter.

Football magazine kicker also cited its player poll of 1987 in which 31 players stated that performance-enhancing drugs were used in the Bundesliga.

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