WADA seeks talks with UEFA chief on doping

A senior official from the World Anti-Doping Agency said it had invited Sepp Blatter, the head of world football's governing body FIFA, for talks following a public dispute over doping test rules, The Associated Press says.

WADA director general David Howman said Wednesday that agency president John Fahey had written Blatter to discuss the dispute privately.

Blatter was reportedly angered by new WADA rules that require athletes to declare their whereabouts each day of the year, arguing the new regulations effectively treated all footballers as doping suspects.

WADA expressed disappointment at the remarks. But Howman on Wednesday said Blatter may have been misquoted.

«My president has written to Mr. Blatter so that he can have a dialogue ... as soon as possible,» Howman said. «He prefers to talk in person rather than in public through the media. The comments attributed to Mr. Blatter appear very misguided and very inaccurate.»

He did not say whether any plans for a meeting had been made, but insisted FIFA broadly agreed with the new rules.

Howman spoke at the start of an anti-doping conference organized in Greece by the European Commission.