German politicians call for publication of report into cold war doping The doping report mentions football players including three who played during the 1966 World Cup final against England. Photograph: Fox Photos/Getty Images German opposition politicians have called for a report detailing the extent to which government-backed doping of West German athletes took place from the 1970s, and possibly before, to be made public after it was revealed it was being held back over privacy concerns. The 800-word document titled Doping in Germany from 1950 to Today, put together by researchers at Berlin's Humboldt University, reveals athletes were given drugs including anabolic steroids, testosterone and oestrogen over a period of decades, and that the practice was state funded through taxes, according to an article published in the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung on Saturday. The concrete costs of the doping programme, including research and the extent to which it was carried out, are unclear. But researchers said it was known that the federal institute of sport science (BISp), now run under the interior ministry, invested 10m Deutsch Marks (almost £4.5m) in the central sports medicine facilities in Freiburg, Cologne and Saarbrücken. While it is already known doping was carried out on athletes in East Germany, researchers said the West German doping was not carried out in response to that, but in parallel. The Süddeutsche Zeitung quoted a witness describing how an unnamed interior ministry official from the time said: "Our athletes should have the same conditions and services as the eastern bloc athletes." The report also mentions football players, who were doped before the 1970s, including three who played during the 1966 World Cup final where England beat West Germany in Wembley 4-2. Researchers said a letter had been discovered in which Fifa officials said traces of the banned stimulant ephedrine had been found. Despite being completed in April, the report, which was commissioned by BISp and initiated by the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) in 2008, has not yet been published over concerns about the naming of athletes, doctors and officials in the document. "I do not understand why the doping study is being further kept under wraps," said the leading German social democrat Thomas Oppermann in a statement. He said it was a significant allegation that money from the interior ministry had supposedly funded systematic doping over decades. "I want to know if there's anything in it," he said, adding that the interior minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich, should release the study. Rumours of doping during the 1966 game had already surfaced in 2011, at which time a former member of Germany's international team, Willi Schulz, hit out at such claims. "I've already experienced a lot, but that is really the ultimate and absolute nonsense," he said, according to the German paper, Bild. A spokesman from the federal interior ministry, which is responsible for sport in Germany, said the report was an important contribution to educating about and evaluating doping in both parts of Germany. "The goal of the project was and is an unconditional, in-depth look at the history of doping in Germany during a period of around 60 years, regardless of the people and institutions involved," he said. It is also about the systemisation of the phenomenon of doping in Germany during the cold war, during the phase of reunification and beyond to the present day. He added that the ministry would be working to ensure the report was published "as soon as possible." The president of the DOSB, Thomas Bach, said he would welcome the publication of the report. "Finding out about our heritage is essential for our zero policy against doping," he said.