Sep
1
Queiroz banned for harassing drug-testers
Filed Under General | Leave a Comment
In a very strange news story, it has been reported that Portugal’s national coach Carlos Queiroz is facing a 6-month ban from football, after it was found that he “acted aggressively” against employees who were administering drug tests on his team prior to the World Cup. The incident happened during a training session and has been the subject of a long investigation.
Details on what exactly happened are sparse, but officials take drug-testing very seriously and even the slightest misconduct holds very severe punishments. A few years ago Rio Ferdinand was suspended for almost a year after he forgot to take one of these tests. I really don’t know what Quieroz could have done to warrant his own punishment, or why, but if it was deemed that he interfered in the process, 6 months may even be getting off light.
When asked about the ban, the Portuguese coach has said he would appeal such a ruling. He is already serving a one month ban for the same incident, which rules him out of Portugal’s opening Euro 2012 qualification games, but 6 months for a football manager would really be a lot. Not that that would stop him from doing much of his regular work like attending games and scouting players, but if you have to miss a number of the already few big workdays you have a year (the matches), one wonders what’s even the point of continuing on as manager.