The Polish football association PZPN has chosen former Polish international Grzegorz Lato as its new president, Polskie Radio reported.
Lato – who played for Poland in the 1979s and early 1980s - is the most capped player ever for the national side and has since become a regular on TV screens as a pundit. He was also a senator for the left wing Democratic Left Alliance from 2001 to 2005.
When at 11 O’clock over 110 delegates met to vote for the new chief of Polish football there were four candidates. By lunchtime Tomasz Jagodziński had dropped out leaving just names of Zbigniew Boniek, Grzegorz Lato and Zdzisław Kręcina on the ballot paper.
The choice of Lato - who gained just over half of the 112 votes cast - is hoped by the association to being closure to months of conflict with the government over the wide spread corruption within all levels of Polish football. Over 160 officials have been arrested by an investigative team based in Wroclaw, south west Poland.
Grzegorz lato replaces Michal Listkiewicz as head of the association, who was a favourite of FIFA, the world governing body. A few weeks ago, in the middle of a conflict between Poland`s government and UEFA and FIFA over the composition of PZPN, Sepp Blatter declared, dramatically, that "Listkiewicz is the only man I can do business with in Warsaw."
Well, now Blatter, FIFA and UEFA must do business with Lato and the new president of PZPN has much work to do. Poland is co-hosting the 2012 European football championships with Ukraine and preparations for the event have been much criticized. And getting back confidence in Polish football will be a major priority.
