Ukrainian football covered in same sh*t as rest of country's big business

A couple of days ago, Reuters reported:

"FIFA has warned Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine it risks suspension if the country's soccer federation (FFU) replaces its current management, according to a letter from world soccer's governing body made public on Tuesday.

In December, several FFU members tried unsuccessfully to sack FFU president Hrigory Surkis who has been accused by some fans of favouring Dynamo Kiev, a team run by his brother Ihor Surkis.

Surkis' opponents have said they would continue to seek his dismissal.

FIFA said it had evidence of "interference by state authorities" in the case and warned the FFU against sacking Surkis before his term expires in 2012.

"In this regard, we have received clear evidence that some of these members made the decision... after strong pressure was exerted on their delegates by government representatives and other persons and bodies external to the FFU," FIFA said in a letter published on the FFU web site www.ffu.org.ua.

FIFA said it would not recognise any new management.

"FIFA requests that the FFU maintain its current executive committee until the end of its legitimate mandate in 2012. FIFA will not recognise any other leadership which emerges from a process marred by interference," it said.

According to FIFA rules, any third party interference in the activities of a national soccer federation could lead to the suspension of its membership.

"Among other things, it (suspension) would mean that no Ukrainian team of any sort (including clubs) could have any sporting contact with a FIFA member," FIFA warned."

In other words, the Ukrainian national team could find itself banned from the Euro 2012 football tournament that the country it is itself hosting...

The dreadful, diabolical mess in which the Ukrainian football league finds itself right now is well described in this blog and links therein.

Former president Leonid Kravchuk has issued an emotional public appeal to Yanukovych to intervene and halt the hugely disruptive actions of "the troublemakers who are thoughtlessly playing with fire while sitting on a powder keg.."

The richest men in the country, those who control its government, big business, and mass media, in an attempt to control the huge expected Euro 2012 cash flows and benefits, are behaving like horrible children in a sand-pit - throwing dog sh*t at one another...

p.s. Tetyana Nikolayenko and Serhiy Leshchenko, in two fine recent investigative articles in 'Ukrainska Pravda' here and here reveal how Boris Kolesnikov, the deputy prime minister in charge of the Euro 2012 football tournament, is allegedly 'cashing in' on the tournament by means of 'layering' schemes involving off-shore construction companies in Belize and elsewhere, to which he may be connected.

These companies are building new stadiums and infrastructure for Euro 2012 - without any tendering process having taken place. To compound Kolesnikov's complicity, the authors allege that once the scams were about to be exposed, official sale and transfer documents were 'post-dated' or 'lost', and official registers 'doctored', in an attempt to retroactively cover tracks. However, even this was clumsily bungled..