Former French Sports Minister Marie-George Buffet admits anti‑doping tests halted for 1998 World Cup team

In a BFMTV documentary about Zinédine Zidane, former French sports minister Marie‑George Buffet acknowledged that, in 1997, she gave instructions to stop surprise anti‑doping controls on the French national football team until the 1998 World Cup. The decision followed a contentious urine‑test session at a training camp in Tignes, which the players, coach Aimé Jacquet and the French Football Federation had protested as disruptive. All tests returned negative results.

Physician Alain Garnier, who carried out the tests, said he was told, “Je ne devais plus embêter les Bleus jusqu’à la Coupe du monde,” confirming the suspension. Buffet described the move as “a setback in the fight against doping,” but added that anti‑doping efforts were resumed after the tournament and that she later helped draft France’s first anti‑doping law in 1999. The revelation revives a decades‑old controversy over whether the 1998 champions were shielded from testing.

The documentary, titled “Zidane, la fabrique d’une légende,” features Buffet’s admission that she had previously denied the instruction under oath in 2013, and includes Garnier’s claim that the order likely came from the ministerial cabinet or even the Prime Minister’s office.