Earthquake in France: shocking confession raises suspicions over 1998 World Cup win | Goal.com

Published on 04 Aug 2026 | Reading time: 2 minutes

France's former sports minister, Marie-George Buffet, has caused a resounding shock after admitting to halting surprise doping tests for the France national team before the start of the 1998 World Cup, a tournament in which "Les Bleus" were crowned champions on home soil.

According to a report by Mundo Deportivo, the admission came during the documentary film "Zidane: The Making of a Legend", after the minister had denied under oath before a committee in the French Senate in 2013 that she had issued any instructions to halt those tests.

Buffet revealed that the first surprise test sparked anger inside the France camp. From that point, nobody carried out another surprise test until the tournament was over.

Alain Garnier, the doctor the sports ministry sent to conduct the tests at the time, confirmed the account. He had been told not to "bother the France national team again until the World Cup", an instruction delivered to him verbally.

Asked about this, Buffet did not deny it. "If Dr Garnier says that, then it must be true," she said, adding that the decision was "a step backwards in the fight against doping".

The confession reopens the debate over the circumstances that preceded France's title triumph in 1998, not least because the suspension of surprise tests came before a tournament that ended with "Les Bleus" lifting the trophy.

Questions have poured out across France in the wake of it, all the sharper because it contradicts the former minister's testimony before the Senate in 2013, when she confirmed under oath that her ministry "did not issue any directives" to halt surprise doping tests.

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