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Polish FA boss Lato refuses to bow out
The embattled head of Poland's PZPN football association, Grzegorz Lato, on Thursday refused to bow to pressure to quit over the team's poor Euro 2012 showing and said he would run for a new term.
The 62-year-old former star striker denied that he had ever pledged to step down if co-hosts Poland failed to reach the tournament's knock-out round.
"I never said I'd resign. I stressed repeatedly that I would make my decision after the end of the European championship," Lato said in a press release.
"The championship is over, and we were very highly rated by UEFA president Michel Platini. We can all be proud of how this tournament was organised in Poland."
PZPN spokeswoman Agnieszka Olejkowska said criticism was misplaced.
"Without the PZPN, we wouldn't have had the European championship in Poland," she insisted.
Since last year, Lato has faced claims of high-level corruption, which he rejects - but they led to the sacking of the PZPN's secretary-general.
The PZPN is also accused to doing too little to develop young players, though it faults Polish clubs.
The pressure mounted when Poland came bottom in their group at Euro 2012 after draws with Greece and Russia and defeat by the Czech Republic.
"Change is needed. Change will benefit Polish football, the organisation and all of us," Sports Minister Joanna Mucha said on Tuesday.
Many fans had hoped Euro 2012 would help revive Poland's long-lost glory days.
Lato, an international from 1971 to 1984, symbolises that era. He won the Golden Boot as top scorer at the 1974 World Cup, where Poland came third.
Lato insisted that the team's failings should not detract from widely-praised Euro 2012, which ran from June 8 to July 1 and was organised with neighbouring Ukraine.
"All that was lacking were results on the pitch, and it's through that prism that many people want to judge my work," he said, adding that he was convinced Poland would qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Lato, who earlier this year saw off a PZPN coup attempt, said he would run in its October leadership election, arguing that continuity was key.
"The PZPN is one of the few sports associations in good shape, with stable finances. I'm aware, however, that there are many issues needing improvement. I know football and I know what to do for the good of the game."
"As a player, I never forfeited a match. If I walk away from the PZPN, it will only be if I lose to an opponent who cares even more than I do about the development of Polish football."
No rivals have come forward yet.
Lato was first elected in October 2008, defusing a dispute between the Polish government and FIFA that began 21 months earlier.
The government had put the PZPN under administration after axing its board for failing to stem match-fixing.
But that fell foul of rules against political meddling in football, with FIFA threatening to ban Poland from international competition.
Lato played for Polish club Stal Mielec for 18 years until 1980, when the communist regime allowed him to go abroad to Belgium's Lokeren.
In 1982 he moved to Mexico's Atlante, heading to Canada two years later.
He returned to post-communist Poland in 1991 to manage clubs including Stal, before trying his hand at politics from 2001 to 2005 as a senator with the Democratic Left Alliance, which was then in power.--(AFP)
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