Former Premier League players Carlos Tevez, Dirk Kuyt and Gabriel Heinze have been "named by hackers Fancy Bears as three of the footballers cleared to use banned medicines" at the 2010 World Cup, according to the BBC. The trio "were among 25 players given therapeutic use exemptions" during the tournament in South Africa. The Russian hacking group also claimed 160 players "failed drugs tests" in '15. Four of the failed tests were registered by UK Anti-Doping. This is the first time Fancy Bears hackers "released details about TUEs in football." Tevez, now 33, was playing for Man City during the 2010 World Cup, having moved from ManU the previous year. There is "no suggestion any of these footballers have done anything wrong." The latest hack includes an email from FA Head of Integrity Jenni Kennedy to FIFA. The FA said that it was "disappointed that strictly confidential information has been released into the public domain." Tevez, Heinze and former ManU and Argentina midfielder Juan Sebastián Verón were prescribed betamethasone -- a corticosteroid "with a variety of uses." It "does not feature directly" on WADA's prohibited list, but is "banned depending on the strength of the dose used" (BBC, 8/22). The London INDEPENDENT reported the FA is "working to discover the extent of the Fancy Bears hack which made revelations about football's anti-doping procedures." In a statement, the FA said, "In the event that an Anti-Doping Rule Violation has been committed, full details will be published on The FA website in line with The World Anti-Doping Code" (INDEPENDENT, 8/22).
