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Soccer's world and European governing bodies said they don't accept Poland's suspension of the sport's current management in the country, a move that followed a series of scandals there.

A Polish Olympic Committee arbitration court yesterday suspended the leadership of the soccer federation, the PZPN, and appointed Robert Zawlocki as administrator. The move may increase pressure on the country in its efforts to stage the continental championship in 2012.

The federation's management was suspended at the request of Sports Minister Miroslaw Drzewiecki, in response to ``obvious cases'' of rule breaches, including not selecting officials according to federation guidelines.

He also said there was insufficient effort being made to fight corruption in Polish football. Match-fixing scandals in recent years have resulted in 120 people facing prosecution.

``FIFA and UEFA do not recognize either the decision by the arbitration court of the Polish National Olympic Committee, or the appointment of an `administrator' of the PZPN,'' world body FIFA said in a statement.

FIFA said it continued to recognize the current leadership of the federation, chaired by Michal Listkiewicz, as the ``only legitimate authority'' to run Polish soccer and represent it internationally. Any communication not signed by the ``legitimate'' leadership, or which is signed under the authority of Zawlocki, ``will be ignored and considered irrelevant,'' it added.

`Concerned'

`We are extremely concerned about what's happened to the Polish F.A.,'' William Gaillard, an adviser to UEFA President Michel Platini, said by phone today.

The arbitration tribunal called a session for Oct. 21 to discuss the case, and gave the interested parties 14 days to present their arguments.

``I can't imagine that UEFA may ignore a national law, and can't see any reason for tolerating the law violation only because someone has strong support from foreign bodies,'' Drzewiecki said at a press briefing in Warsaw today. ``Polish football must be clean, corruption must be eliminated and the soccer federation should obey legal procedures as well as stick to the law.''

FIFA and UEFA will contact the International Olympic Committee to discuss the ``violation of fundamental principles of the Olympic and sporting movement,'' which it said include the autonomy of sports federations. They will also discuss what action to take over the PZPN, ahead of a FIFA executive committee meeting Oct. 23-24.

`No Threats'

``There are no threats to the soccer championship,'' Drzewiecki had told a press conference yesterday. ``Everything on the Polish side regarding cooperation on the tournament between the government and the federation is working faultlessly,'' he added, saying the suspension is a separate matter.

``Euro 2012 is not endangered,'' Listkiewicz, UEFA's tournament coordinator in Poland, told journalists.

There has been concern that Poland and co-host Ukraine are not making sufficient progress in preparing for Euro 2012. Last week, UEFA demanded that the countries make more progress on new stadiums and infrastructure to keep their roles as hosts.

(Source: Bloomberg)