World Cup: Whistleblower claims member of Russia squad could be doping

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00:31

Russian doping whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov revealed Thursday that one member of Russia's 2018 FIFA World Cup squad was a drugs cheater.

Speaking via Skype to a conference in London, Rodchenkov claimed that a member of Russia's squad for the upcoming World Cup was one of the 34 footballers in Russia whose positive doping tests had been covered up.

Rodchenkov is currently in witness protection after providing evidence to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which led to the publishing of the McLaren Report in 2016 – a report that alleged state-sponsored doping in Russia.

Rodchenkov also told the conference that Russia's former sports minister Vitaly Mutko once told him, "We don't need any positive cases or even any noise in football, especially, of course, in national level team.”

Asked if he believed the World Cup in Russia will be free of doping, Rodchenkov reiterated it would be.

“I have information from (the) internet and other public domain mass media. I know that it will be only foreign doping control experts, doping control officers and chaperones. All Russian doping control people, personnel (are) not trusted and (are) not allowed to participate…I know that for such (a) major event, WADA has a special team of independent observers.”