Cypriot footballers claim forced taking drugs

NICOSIA -- Two Cypriot soccer players claimed that officials of their first division teams forced them to take performance enhancing drugs by intravenous injection, which resulted in developing heart problems, police said on Thursday.

The police added that they are investigating the complaints.

"The players supplied the police with all information they had available. They do not know what substances the injections they were made to receive contained," Chairman of Pancyprian Footballers Association, Spyros Neophytides, said after escorting them to the police headquarters in Larnaca, a coastal city at the southeast cape of Cyprus, to lodge their complaint.

He said the footballers who lodged complaints played for "Alki" of Larnaca, adding that the alleged actions took place during the previous soccer season.

Neophytides said that a third footballer who played for a yet unnamed soccer club has developed the same heart condition.

"We want to know the reason these three footballers had to give up playing. We want to protect all young footballers from being subjected to the same treatment," said Neophytides.

The Union of European Football Associations(UEFA) had in the past reported that several football matches in Cyprus had been fixed in recent years.

The UEFA reports led the Cyprus Football Association to impose fines of over 50,000 euros on football clubs which were named for being involved in match fixing.

However, this is the first time complaints have been lodged by footballers that they were subjected to treatment with drugs by their clubs to enhance their performance.

The two Alki footballers, Panayiotis Frangeskou, 27, and Panayiotis Loizides, 23, told the police that they had to give up playing football after being diagnosed as suffering from an identical heart condition which threatened their lives if they continued their career.

Alki chairman Andy Loppas denied any wrong doing by his club.