Polish football federation accused over World Cup ticket scam

A Polish prosecutor has accused the country's football federation of being involved in a scam in which tickets to World Cup matches were sold on the black market.
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"All indications lead us to believe that tickets for World Cup 2006 matches which were sold illegally came from the batch allocated to the Polish federation," national prosecutor Janusz Kaczmarek was quoted as saying by the Polish media Tuesday.
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Two men suspected of selling World Cup tickets from the Polish federation's allocation, at highly inflated prices, were arrested last week, and the federation's headquarters were searched on Monday.
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The two detained men, who are not directly linked to the federation, have pleaded guilty to charges of fraud.
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The ticket fraud scandal is the latest blot on Polish football's copy book.
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Not only is the federation is suspected of illegal accounting practices, which have led Poland's tax authorities to announce they will audit the organisation's books, but more than 20 football players, referees and federation officials have been accused of fraud and match-fixing.
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Federation chief Michal Listkiewicz has announced he will stand down in the autumn because of the charges of corruption levelled against the federation.
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Aside from its troubles with the law, the federation has been sternly criticised over Poland's early exit from the World Cup in Germany.
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The national team failed to get past the first round, going down to Germany and Ecuador although they avoided propping up Group A with a 2-1 win over Costa Rica in their final match. — AFP A Polish prosecutor has accused the country's football federation of being involved in a scam in which tickets to World Cup matches were sold on the black market.

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