Hoffenheim fined for violating DFB anti-doping regulations

The sports court of the German Football Association (DFB) has fined TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and the Bundesliga club's doping official Peter Geigle for violating the DFB's anti-doping regulations.

Regulation violation
The court handed down a €75,000 fine to the club while Peter Geigle was fined €2,500. Hoffenheim players Andreas Ibertsberger and Christoph Janker had been cleared of any wrongdoing on 6 March after coming late to a doping test following the 7 February domestic match against VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach. The DFB court did not consider the case against Ibertsberger and Janker at its session on Monday 16 March. Both players were cleared, as the court considered that they had not been informed that they had been drawn for a doping control, and therefore did not violate any rule. The violation of rule was committed by the doping official of the club, who did not inform the players that they had been drawn for a doping control. "The evidence showed that this concrete case was not a classical doping offence," said Hans E Lorenz, chairman of the DFB court, of the ruling. "It was more a case of regulation violation of the DFB's anti-doping rules."