A reputation built over decades that European soccer body UEFA is the good guy compared to FIFA as a cartoon caricature villain is being tested in this tough season for off-field politics.

(Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)GENEVA – Russia’s status as an Olympic team, and its reputation as a serial cheater in international sports, goes on trial next week in more legal fallout from the country's state-backed doping saga. WADA would let Russian athletes compete only if not implicated in doping or cover-ups. WADA says details of doping tests and emails were deleted or changed, and false trails created to frame whistleblowers. The International Olympic Committee refused WADA’s request to ban Russia outright from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. RUSADA rejected WADA’s proposed punishment, and Russian Olympic officials later fired the RUSADA chief executive who acknowledged the wrongdoing.