Polish Government Given Fifa Deadline
Poland’s tenure on hosting the Euro 2012 football tournament is rapidly evaporating after world football governing body FIFA gave the country’s government until 6th October to reinstate its football association.
The management of the Polish Football Federation was suspended by its government for failing to address corruption issues – a move that led to FIFA and its European counterpart UEFA to immediately announce that they refuse to recognise the administrator appointed in place of the previous regime.
FIFA has now handed the Polish government a deadline to reinstate the previous governors or face forfeiting World Cup qualifiers.
The move will almost certainly be backed up by UEFA, who organise the European Championships, with the likely scenario being that Poland would be stripped of its hosting rights if it failed to comply.
Poland and its joint host Ukraine have already been formally reprimanded by UEFA for falling behind in their preparations for the tournament with a number of construction deadlines running behind schedule.
A statement from FIFA said further action would be considered when the FIFA executive committee meets in Zurich on 23rd-24th October, with UEFA’s emergency panel due to meet around the same time.
Should the hosting rights for Euro 2012 be moved away from Poland, it is unclear as to whether Ukraine would retain its part in staging the tournament. Any move to bring in a new host nation would immediately reduce the number of potential options with the event less than four years away.
