Europe’s soccer governing body UEFA has warned Poland that it risks losing the 2012 European Championship if it does not reinstate the country’s suspended Football Association. The Polish FA was suspended Sunday by the government, which said the organization had failed to tackle corruption. It appointed an administrator to run the body instead.
Both UEFA and its global parent body FIFA refuse to recognize the administrator, because they say there should be no political interference in national soccer associations. UEFA spokesperson William Gaillard said if the problem is not solved by the end of October, “and the Polish FA will not have [the] ability to operate then it’s a different ball game, and that opens all kinds of question marks around Euro 2012.”
At its executive committee meeting in Bordeaux last week, UEFA had already warned joint 2012 hosts Poland and Ukraine that they needed to speed up preparations for the tournament and meet a number of conditions if they were not to lose hosting rights. Every time there’s a reported glitch, Scotland pipes up that it’s ready step in. This time has been no exception.
Gaillard said both governing bodies are unimpressed by the Polish government’s claim of corruption against its FA, and would not meet the appointed administrator, Robert Zawlocki. “The Polish FA were supposed to have elections on 31 October and so a democratic process has been interrupted,” Gaillard claimed. “These sorts of accusations have been made and withdrawn in the past. We only recognize Michal Listkiewicz, the chairman of the Polish FA, we don’t know this other guy and we are not planning to meet him or communicate with him.”