UNI World Players releases second edition of Best Practice Improvements to Anti-Doping Programs

UNI World Players, a sector of UNI Global Union, has released the second edition of its Best Practice Improvements to Anti-Doping Programs(Best Practices), the adoption of which would stop ongoing harm to athlete rights and resolve most cases of injustice under the Code. The ongoing WADA Code Review process presents a critical opportunity to embed these best practices, which is essential if WADA is to rebuild athlete trust and confidence in the global anti-doping effort.

Across the world, player associations, in partnership with leagues and governing bodies, have negotiated, implemented and rigorously enforced Best Practices that are more proportionate, rights-respecting and effective than anti-doping measures mandated by WADA. These collectively bargained models prioritize education, player welfare and due process while maintaining the integrity of competition.

This second edition of the Best Practices builds upon these real-world approaches and introduces new, evidence-based reforms in key areas, including:

• Contaminated supplements – Expanding the range of thresholds for specific substances to ensure that low-level detections consistent with inadvertent ingestion do not trigger unnecessary sanctions. Additionally, advocating for the burden of proof to be reversed in appropriate cases, ensuring athletes are not unfairly required to prove their innocence when contamination is an obviously recognized risk.
• Substances of abuse – Ensuring athletes are not unfairly punished for the use of substances unrelated to performance enhancement, while promoting health and well-being approaches aligned with widely accepted public health policies.
• Whereabouts compliance reform – Reducing administrative burdens on athletes while introducing greater flexibility in sanctioning, ensuring that penalties account for the realities of an athlete’s training and competition schedule, rather than imposing rigid and arbitrary consequences.
• Therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) – Strengthening fairness and consistency by introducing wider access to retroactive TUEs, ensuring that athletes with legitimate medical needs are not unfairly sanctioned for seeking treatment before obtaining formal approval.

Matthew Graham, Head of UNI World Players, emphasized the urgency of reform:

“For too long, the global anti-doping system has prioritized enforcement over fairness, often at the expense of athletes’ rights. The reality is that some of the best anti-doping models in the world are those that have been collectively bargained between player associations and their leagues. These frameworks strike the right balance between integrity and fairness – yet WADA continues to disregard them. The ongoing Code Review is a chance for WADA to catch up, to listen and to build an anti-doping system that athletes believe in rather than endure.”

Ahmad Nassar, Executive Director of the Professional Tennis Players Association, said:

“The current anti-doping system is built to foot-fault athletes rather than catch real dopers. Instead of enforcing arbitrary measures, we need a system grounded in fairness, due process and real-world effectiveness. The best anti-doping models are those that have been collectively bargained – where players and their counterparts work together to uphold integrity while respecting athletes’ rights. WADA must embrace these Best Practices and stop needlessly accepting the reputations and livelihoods of athletes as collateral damage in the fight against doping.”

Steph Bond, Legal & Policy Manager of the World Cricketers’ Association, said:

“It is without doubt that the current WADA system is not fit for purpose. The lack of engagement with athletes, including the right to collectively bargain the Code, results in unfair practices, disproportionate penalties and a complete mistrust of the system. Of particular concern is WADA’s flawed system for known contaminants and the nonsensical inclusion of recreational drugs.  Unfortunately, we are increasingly seeing the reputations, careers and livelihoods of athletes becoming collateral damage because of these failures in the system.”

UNI World Players, and its affiliates across the world’s major sports, remain committed to ensuring anti-doping policy is reformed in a way that is not only effective but also just. WADA and all stakeholders in the anti-doping community must act, through the adoption and implementation of these Best Practices, to ensure that the new Code reflects the realities, rights and interests of the athletes it seeks to protect.

-ENDS-

For more information, please contact Leonie Guguen, Senior Communications Manager, UNI Global Union. Tel: +41 79 137 5436 or Email: leonie.guguen@uniglobalunion.org

UNI World Players, part of UNI Global Union, is the exclusive global voice of organized players and athletes across professional sport. It brings together 85,000 players through more than 100 player associations in over 60 countries. Its role is to ensure that the voice of organized players is heard at the highest levels in the decision-making of international sport.