Poland fear they may be axed from Euro 2008
Polish soccer officials fear the national side will be axed from Euro 2008 after FIFA and UEFA warned on Monday they would take action over a row with the government.
The trouble started on Friday when Polish Sports Minister Tomasz Lipiec suspended the board of the national football association and appointed Andrzej Rusko as a commissioner in its place following new arrests in a match-fixing investigation.
FIFA, who resent government involvement in soccer matters, issued a strongly-worded statement on Monday saying action would be taken for what they called Warsaw’s “interference”.
With FIFA having suspended countries over state involvement in the past, the gravity of the situation was not lost on Polish soccer officials whose team are just a point behind Group A leaders Finland in Euro 2008 qualifying.
The other teams in the group are Serbia, Portugal, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
National team spokesman Kazimierz Oleszek said: “For now, this seems to be giving the government and Rusko some time to consider what to do.
“As the national team, we are very concerned that FIFA may suspend us from competing. We are playing very well, we have every chance of qualifying for Euro 2008.
“We very much hope this will not end in the national team being ruled out of the competition.”
In their statement, soccer’s world body FIFA and their European counterpart UEFA said they were “surprised” by Lipiec’s move and did not recognise Rusko’s appointment.
“In the coming days and weeks, FIFA and UEFA will determine what action to take in response to the Polish government’s interference, which contravenes article 17 of the FIFA Statutes,” they said. – Reuters Link
The trouble started on Friday when Polish Sports Minister Tomasz Lipiec suspended the board of the national football association and appointed Andrzej Rusko as a commissioner in its place following new arrests in a match-fixing investigation.
FIFA, who resent government involvement in soccer matters, issued a strongly-worded statement on Monday saying action would be taken for what they called Warsaw’s “interference”.
With FIFA having suspended countries over state involvement in the past, the gravity of the situation was not lost on Polish soccer officials whose team are just a point behind Group A leaders Finland in Euro 2008 qualifying.
The other teams in the group are Serbia, Portugal, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
National team spokesman Kazimierz Oleszek said: “For now, this seems to be giving the government and Rusko some time to consider what to do.
“As the national team, we are very concerned that FIFA may suspend us from competing. We are playing very well, we have every chance of qualifying for Euro 2008.
“We very much hope this will not end in the national team being ruled out of the competition.”
In their statement, soccer’s world body FIFA and their European counterpart UEFA said they were “surprised” by Lipiec’s move and did not recognise Rusko’s appointment.
“In the coming days and weeks, FIFA and UEFA will determine what action to take in response to the Polish government’s interference, which contravenes article 17 of the FIFA Statutes,” they said. – Reuters Link
posted by BEING HAD at 5:06 AM
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