FIFA and European football body UEFA have pressed for changes, arguing the rule is harsh and unfair and should apply only to teams and not individual players.

But John Fahey, the president of WADA, said that despite claims that football would not have to follow the rule so strictly as far as they were concerned nothing had change.

He said: "The [WADA] Code was accepted, and I might add unanimously, with those whereabouts requirements, and nothing has changed as far as we are concerned.

"We haven't made any concessions."

FIFA has previously demanded that out-of-competition tests take place only at club training facilities, and that players should not be tested during holidays to respect their private lives.

But WADA said FIFA's chief medical representative had personally endorsed the code at a meeting of WADA's ruling Executive Committee in Montreal.

David Howman, the director general of WADA, said: "FIFA was represented today at the meeting by their representative [chief medical officer] Jiri Dvorak ... and he put to rest the indication that there has been some sort of arrangement.

"There is none and he conceded there was none by making that very clear statement."

The debate over athletes' privacy versus efforts to guarantee clean, fair sport has raged in recent weeks, with a European Union panel last month recommending WADA reassess the rule, which they said contravened the bloc's privacy laws.

Some 65 athletes in Belgium, including cyclists and volleyball players have also lodged a legal challenge to quash the rule, arguing it breaches EU privacy laws.

The issue has created considerable confusion, as both FIFA and WADA have claimed victories as to how the rule is applied.

Howman said: "The issue is one where things seem to be lost in translation."

Howman said the rule would only require a small minority of footballers to declare their whereabouts, while decisions on the number of players to be tested would ultimately rest with individual leagues and countries' national Olympic committees.

He said: "The only athletes that have to give that one hour a day designation are those that are either in their international testing pool or their national one.

"We don't say you have to have 1,000 players or the top 1,000 in the country, we sa, 'Look at who you think ought to be here.'"

Howman said that the rule, which come into effect on January 1, would be reviewed at the end of the year.