‘Classical’ doping, financial doping and beyond: UEFA’s financial fair play as a policy of anti-doping

Abstract

AbstractAgainst the backdrop of an increasing use of the term 'doping' in circumstances other than the classical understanding, this theoretic article provides a new and comprehensive inter-disciplinary reflection of the doping concept. The aim is to elaborate a broader understanding of doping in relation to socio-economic contexts. Besides addressing the question which structural similarities in general justify the label 'doping', a comparison between 'classical' doping and the so-called financial doping in European club football is developed. These insights serve as a basis for a consideration, to what extent insights of social-scientific research on drugs in sport may be consulted to analyse socio-economic practices of performance enhancement in sport. Following the considerations of Schetsche, a model is drafted according to which different forms of performance-enhancing behaviour are categorized subject to the dimensions legality and legitimacy. The results may provide a contribution for further research on doping as well as for policymakers in the fight against doping in sport (both medical and financial). Due to numerous structural similarities between the policy of anti-doping and UEFA's intended policy to fight financial doping, in particular the latter may learn from former experiences.Keywords: anti-dopingsport managementfootball governancesport policysport economics AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive and valuable feedback, which has shaped the arguments in this paper.Notes1. The term 'classical' doping denotes the common idea of doping as the use of prohibited substances and methods to improve athletic performance and is sometimes also referred to as physiological or medical doping.2. Franck (Citation1999) provides interesting insights in this field by describing physiological doping as well as different socio-economic practices as 'hyperactivity'.3. Schetsche's book is entitled Die Karriere sozialer Probleme (English: The career of social problems, translated by authors) and has been published in German language only (Schetsche Citation1996).4. An extensive historical view of drug use in sport is provided by Mazanov and McDermott (Citation2009).5. The distinction between legal and legitimate methods of performance enhancement is part of Merton's (Citation1968) anomie theory and has been mentioned in pertinent literature on doping before. Furthermore, the processes of legitimization and delegitimization of social norms have been applied to doping in earlier studies (cf., for example, Anshel Citation1991, Emrich et al. Citation1992, Emrich Citation2004).6. It should be noted, however, that there is a distinction between doping on the one hand and infringements to the rules of the game: for example, when in football a striker uses his hand, this is both illegitimate and illegal and it increases the probability of success, while no-one would consider it to be doping. Thus, as we see it, doping is about improving performance while still adhering to the rules of competition on the pitch; which is not the case when a football player uses his hand to score a goal, as this action takes place within/during competition and is, therefore, to be regarded as cheating in the sense of infringements to the rules of the game or competition.7. The opposite way is also possible, as the example of caffeine shows.8. To give an example, the discussion about listing new substances in the Prohibited List could be quoted.9. In our model, training would be categorized as 'enhancement' practice at the moment, although it can be considered problematic from an ethical point of view (Franck Citation1999, p. 523). However, it could be assumed that, for example, internistic disorders as well as injuries of muscles and ligaments caused by too intensive or inaccurate exercises even without the use of drugs may cause a social debate and recognition as a problem. In the extreme case, this could result in a weakening of the commonly accepted sport-health association, which is elementary to the sport system.10. Franck (Citation1999, p. 524) states that from an ethical perspective the use of substances which are not yet ostracized but aim at an unphysiological performance enhancement already represents doping.11. A detailed overview of the uncertainty of outcome/competitive balance phenomena is provided by Késenne (Citation2007).12. The terms 'naturally grown' and 'technically made' are translations by the authors. In German it says 'natürlich Gewachsenem' and 'technisch Gemachten' (Habermas Citation2001).13. 'Team of the regime' (translated by authors).14. UEFA's annual benchmarking reports provide a bulk of detail on the financial situation of European club football with detailed descriptions on the loss development in the different leagues (UEFA Citation2013).15. The full title of the concept is 'UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations'. In 2012, UEFA published a revised edition of the concept (UEFA Citation2012b).16. However, FFP is different to salary caps in North American team sport leagues. The effect of such caps on aspects such as competitive balance and club profits has been mentioned in various studies, such as Fort and Quirk (Citation1995), Vrooman (Citation1995), Quirk and Fort (Citation1997), Staudohar (Citation1998), Késenne (Citation2000), Vrooman (Citation2000), Késenne (Citation2003), Dietl et al. (Citation2009, Citation2010) and Dietl et al. (Citation2011). FFP is different in that a defined maximum amount that clubs may spend on salaries is not dictated. Instead, it is demanded from the clubs, among other things, to balance their books and to operate within their financial means.17. That the development of football mirrors wider social processes one could already observe during and after the 1980s, when the football industry followed the neo-liberal governmental trend of deregulation initiated by Reagan and Thatcher, resulting in increasing inequalities of income as well as financial irresponsibility. The current situation in European club football seems to resemble this, with the existence of some fabulously rich clubs but also a substantial increase in the number of clubs which have gone bankrupt (i.e. into administration). In this regard, just as well as from anti-doping regulations one might learn a lot about regulating football finance from the attempt to regulate the banking sector.18. An exception is, for example, a study by Pierdzioch et al. (Citation2012), in which the influence of organized doping in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) is empirically proven. Beyond that, other studies measure the prevalence of doping in elite sport using the randomized response technique (e.g. Pitsch et al. Citation2009, Pitsch and Emrich Citation2012).19. If the scope of observation is geographically expanded, the already mentioned correlation between the economic prosperity of a country and its sporting success may also imply a form of socio-economic performance enhancement which is yet commonly accepted. However, it is not difficult to imagine that demands from developing countries may necessitate a corresponding reassessment, as Müller et al. (Citation2012, p. 139) statement concerning FFP shows: 'it is the task of the governing body of the competition to limit the sphere of action in a way that a level of equal opportunities which is accepted among the stakeholders can be assured'.