SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Joaquín Jofre Fernández-Abascal, Jofre Sports Law
1. Athlete Conduct, Integrity and Enforcement 1.1 Anti-Doping Regimes In Spain, doping is not a criminal offence for the ath - lete (the consumer), though it is a serious crime for the suppliers. Under Article 362 quinquies of the Spanish Penal Code, it is a criminal offence to: • prescribe, provide, dispense or administer prohib - ited substances to athletes; • facilitate the use of banned methods (such as blood transfusions); and • encourage or incite the use of these substances. These crimes are punishable by prison sentence (typi - cally six months to two years), fines and professional disqualification. The law targets “facilitators” – doc - tors, trainers and traffickers – rather than the athletes themselves, unless the athlete is involved in the dis- tribution. Status of WADA Prohibited Substances While the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list pri - marily concerns sports eligibility, Spanish criminal law treats many of these substances as controlled phar - maceuticals or illegal drugs. Prohibited substances include the following: • anabolic steroids (eg, stanozolol, nandrolone) are heavily restricted, are illegal to distribute or sell without a medical licence, and are linked to “public health” crimes; • hormones (EPO, HGH) are restricted for medical use, trafficking or administration to athletes; and • stimulants (eg, cocaine, amphetamines) are regu - lated under general narcotics laws, and possession for sale is a criminal offence. CELAD The national anti-doping organisation in Spain is CEL - AD ( Comisión Española para la Lucha Antidopaje en el Deporte ), formerly known as AEPSAD: • CELAD’s purpose is to protect the health of ath - letes and ensure clean competition;
• its roles include conducting testing (in and out of competition), managing therapeutic use exemp - tions (TUEs), overseeing education programmes and investigating anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs); and • regarding enforcement, CELAD collaborates with the Guardia Civil and the National Police when a sports investigation uncovers evidence of criminal trafficking. Implementation of the World Anti-Doping Code Spain implements the World Anti-Doping Code through Organic Law 11/2021. This law ensures that Spanish regulations are harmonised with international standards regarding: • strict liability – athletes are responsible for any substance found in their body; • whereabouts – elite athletes must provide location data for random testing; and • sanctions – standardised bans for first-time major offences. Punishments by Individual Leagues Individual leagues and federations (such as La Liga or the Spanish Basketball Federation) do not create the rules but are bound by CELAD and WADA. If a player in a professional league tests positive, the league/fed - eration enforces a suspension (the athlete cannot play matches); clubs often include “anti-doping clauses” in contracts, allowing them to terminate a player’s con - tract or stop paying their salary during a ban. Recent Noteworthy Cases (2024–2026) CELAD leadership crisis (2024) A major institutional “case” involved the dismissal of the previous director, José Luis Terreros, following allegations of irregularities in how positive tests were handled, and leading to a major overhaul to regain WADA’s trust. Sydney Fokou Takam (2025) A Spanish para-athletics athlete tested positive for brinzolamide at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. The case was unique because it was ruled uninten - tional – caused by inadvertent contamination from another person’s eye drops. While the athlete’s results
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