Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Police detain former Polish national coach Wojcik

Polish police have detained former national team coach Janusz Wojcik in connection with an ongoing corruption investigation in Polish football.

Police took Wojcik into custody at his Warsaw home on Wednesday morning, national police spokesman Mariusz Sokolowski said.

Wojcik coached the Polish team that won a silver medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and later headed the senior national squad from 1997-1999. He was also a member of Poland's parliament from 2005 to 2007.

Wojcik was expected to be taken to Wroclaw later Wednesday for further questioning.

The Wroclaw prosecutors office, which launched an investigation into match-fixing in Polish football in 2005, said it planned to charge Wojcik either later Wednesday or early Thursday. The office said Wojcik will face 11 charges but declined to give details.

Prosecutors also said police had detained a Polish Football Federation official responsible for observing and rating referees during domestic league matches.

Authorities identified the man as Krzysztof P., in line with Polish privacy laws.

So far, Wroclaw prosecutors have charged 153 people — including members of the Polish Football Federation, coaches, referees, players and club officials — with fixing matches in the top domestic leagues.

In a separate investigation, Wroclaw prosecutors on Wednesday charged Zdzislaw Krecina, the secretary general of the Polish FA, with mismanagement tied to debt payments.

Krecina is running for president of the Polish FA in the trouble federation's Oct. 30 elections. It was not immediately clear what impact the charges would have on his candidacy.
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