UEFA EURO 2024 Supporting Programme: Conference on Supplements and Painkiller well attended

Just under two months before the start of UEFA EURO 2024, around one hundred interested participants gathered at the German Football Museum in Dortmund on 23 April 2024 to take part in the conference "Over-the-counter and therefore harmless? Supplements and painkillers in football and other team sports" organised by the National Anti Doping Agency of Germany (NADA) and the Federal Institute for Sports Science (BISp).
The event took place as part of the large-scale "Home match for fairness" campaign, which promotes fair play and doping prevention in football. This is part of the " home match for Europe programme initiated by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Home Affairs (BMI) to accompany UEFA EURO 2024.

Before diving into the topic of the conference, the German Football Museum offered participants a free guided tour of the venue - an opportunity that was taken up by many.
TV and radio presenter Julia Kleine then hosted the programme, the highlight of which was the presentations by Prof. Dr Tim Meyer (Saarland University), Prof. Dr Ansgar Thiel (University of Tübingen) and Angela Clausen (NRW Consumer Association).

Prof Dr Meyer spoke on the use of painkillers in (performance-oriented) amateur and recreational football, a topic that met with great interest from those present. Angela Clausen from the NRW Consumer Association spoke on the topic of "Nutritional supplements in popular sport: helpful, useless or risky?" and the future Dean of the German Sport University Cologne, Prof. Dr Ansgar Thiel, provided insights into the area of "Painkillers in elite sport: consumption between risk culture and functional necessity."

BISp Director Andrea Schumacher emphasised: "This event is intended to make a contribution to the protection of athletes in recreational and popular sports - especially for the protection of young athletes. In line with the motto "Benefiting from the knowledge and experience of elite sport across the board", we are therefore delighted that we were able to attract renowned speakers for the event who passed on their practical knowledge."

After the presentations, the opportunity to ask questions and chat was utilised, and the BISp and NADA Germany information stands were also very popular.

"The use of supplements and painkillers is a constant topic in sport. However, many people are not even aware of the potential dangers," said NADA Germany CEO Dr Lars Mortsiefer, underlining the importance of the topic. "I am therefore delighted that we were able to reach such a broad audience at the conference and discuss it with renowned experts in a fact check. I hope that this will lead to general awareness and contribute to a more considered use of both dietary supplements and painkillers in the future."