World soccer’s governing body FIFA has opened disciplinary cases against three Russian footballers for suspected doping violations in 2013, according to the Russian Football Union.
The report did not identify the footballers but said two of them were men and one was a woman. It said they had not played for Russia’s senior national teams.
"The Russian Football Union received information from FIFA about the opening of disciplinary cases," Interfax news agency cited the union as saying.
Russian sport has been dogged by doping allegations for several years. A 2015 report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency found evidence of mass doping among Russia’s track and field athletes.
Its athletes are barred from competing at major international events, including the Olympics, under the country’s flag until December 2022 for providing WADA with doctored laboratory data that could have helped identify drug cheats.
