Losing streak

FIFA has warned Poland that it will be banned from international competition unless the government reverses a decision to suspend the executive committee of the Polish Football Association (PZPN). The general secretary of soccer's world governing body, Urs Linsi, told Gazeta Wyborcza that the decision by Polish Minister of Sport Tomasz Lipiec last week to appoint a commissioner to head the PZPN was "totally unacceptable."

Lipiec's move followed the detention by prosecutors of as many as 64 referees, club bosses and football officials after a two-year investigation into allegations of bribery and match-fixing. After PZPN's executive committee refused to dismiss itself, Lipiec recalled it and named Andrzej Rusko the commissioner to run the association.

Linsi said FIFA would accept no meddling in the football association's affairs. "The issue is simple. Minister Lipiec has acted in breach of FIFA's and [European football's governing body] UEFA's rules. Our position is clear: We do not accept any temporary administrator," Linsi said. The ban could jeopardize Poland's qualification campaign for the 2008 European Championships.

The likely solution to the problem is that the suspended executive committee voluntarily suspends itself, Minister Lipiec dismisses his commissioner and a new custodian is appointed by the court, which would not breach FIFA regulations.

Nevertheless, the scandal is likely to cost Poland and Ukraine's joint bid the chance to organise the 2012 European Championship. The president of the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU), Gigoriy Surkis, called Lipiec's decision to name a commissioner a "stab in the back."

"Only an enemy of this idea could have acted like this," Surkis said. (Reuters)