Poland's PZPN meets amid football corruption suspicions

Nov 30, 2011, 14:51 GMT

Warsaw - The Polish football association PZPN met Wednesday to discuss suspicions of corruption amid calls from the sports ministry that the officials involved in the affair step down.

The meeting of PZPN's board was to vote on whether to dismiss Secretary General Zdzislaw Krecina. It came days after a recording emerged of Krecina and PZPN head Grzegorz Lato that suggested the two took bribes while building new headquarters.

Some board members thought Krecina's dismissal was likely. During an interview on the affair, Krecina had come across as 'untrustworthy and had plainly lied,' said board member Ryszard Niemiec.

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski said he wanted 'a clean-up of the undoubtedly bad situation,' especially at a time when Poland was getting ready to host Euro 2012 together with Ukraine.

Sports Minister Joanna Mucha - who had asked prosecutors to investigate the recordings - had called on those involved in the affair to resign.

'After such situations, which are clear and obvious to any normal human being, surely the people in the recordings (should resign),' Mucha said on Tuesday in Brussels. 'But on the other hand, I don't expect such resignations.'

The affair comes as the football association, which has already been marred by previous corruption scandals, struggled to clean up its image before Euro 2012.