FIFA finds 'insufficient evidence' of doping by Russia's World Cup squad

Members of Russia's upcoming World Cup side have been cleared by FIFA after the governing body said it found "insufficient evidence" of doping within the host nation's provisional squad for the summer tournament.

"FIFA can today confirm that the investigations concerning all Russian players named for the provisional squad of the FIFA World Cup in Russia have been completed, with the result that insufficient evidence was found to assert an anti-doping rule violation," football's global federation said in a statement.

While those in Russia's provisional squad have been cleared, FIFA added that it will continue to investigate "several players unrelated to the FIFA World Cup," though it did not name specific athletes.

The investigation was spurred by the McLaren reports in 2016, which alleged that Russian athletes had partaken in a systematic and state-sponsored doping program. As a result, many Russian athletes were barred from participating in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the Russian Olympic Committee was later banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, forcing approved Russian competitors to compete under the neutral Olympic flag.

Following the conclusion of FIFA's investigation, the results were provided to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which commissioned the McLaren reports. WADA agreed with FIFA's decision to close its investigation.

Russia unveiled a 28-man provisional World Cup squad on May 11.