FIFA Chairman Sepp Blatter (left) and FIFA Medical Commission Chairman Michel D'Hooghe pose at a press conference last week.

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BRUSSELS -- The abuse of anti-inflammatory medicine by football players is a bigger problem facing the sport than doping, FIFA medical chief Michel D'Hooghe said Monday.

D'Hooghe said the abuse of anti-inflammatories is increasingly more prominent among teenage players who counter any bruise or over-exertion of muscles with the strong medicines which can have serious effects on kidneys, stomach and intestines later in life.

"The most worrying aspect is that we see the problem moving ever more into the youth categories,'' D'Hooghe said in an interview with The Associated Press.

He said the increase among younger players was especially evident at the 2011 Under- 17 World Cup in Mexico and had risen since.

FIFA has been hit by relatively few major doping cases in its history and D'Hooghe said beyond the cost of the anti-doping testing program, the world football federation should try to center on other issues, too.

"Doping is not our biggest problem. The anti-inflammatories are our biggest problem,'' D'Hooghe said.

FIFA got its first major warning on the abuse of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where teams have to let FIFA know from 72 hours in advance of a game what medicine players get.

"There was one team where 21 of 23 players were using them,'' D'Hooghe said.

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FIFA fears abuse of anti-inflammatory medicine