Russia’s Investigative Committee has offered to help FIFA investigate possible doping violations by dozens of its soccer players as the country prepares to host the 2018 World Cup. FIFA announced this month that it would test past samples of at least 34 Russian footballers for tampering. The announcement follows reports that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) included Russia’s entire 2014 World Cup squad on a list of athletes that may have benefited from Russia’s state-sponsored doping scheme.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said Thursday that it had sent a request to FIFA to jointly investigate the test results that WADA had shared with the football governing body.



The committee sent the request to ensure “an objective and comprehensive investigation,” the online statement said. Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said that investigators offered the same assistance to WADA but did not receive a response.

Meanwhile, reports have emerged over the past month that FIFA’s former chief medical officer and ethics committee chairman have been dismissed in separate incidents as they investigated WADA’s report on Russian doping.

