NewsAssociation
The announcement of Polish Football Association
The Polish Football Association (PZPN) immediately took action to clarify the circumstances of Szymon Marciniak's participation in the conference, at which Sławomir Mentzen, a politician, was also present.
Szymon Marciniak has provided the Polish Football Association with an extensive explanation of the situation in question, from which it emerges that he does not know Sławomir Mentzen nor has he ever spoken to him. After speaking with the referee and reviewing the collected evidence, the PZPN rejects any accusations made against Szymon Marciniak.
According to our information, Marciniak took part in the business meeting "Everest" as an invited speaker. During the conference, he gave a 40-minute presentation on motivation. The meeting took place on 29 May in Katowice, Poland. The entire conference was attended by 12 guests. Immediately after his presentation, Szymon Marciniak travelled to Warsaw, where he took part in the Gala Ekstraklasy, an event concluding the Polish league football season.
According to the material we collected, political rallies organised by Sławomir Mentzen took place on other dates and in other cities. It is incomprehensible to link Szymon Marciniak's presence at a business meeting with political rallies organised by Sławomir Mentzen, with which our referee has nothing to do and from which he completely dissociates himself.
In the case of accusations such as those directed towards Szymon Marciniak, objectivity and the presentation of the rationale of each side are always required. In this case this was lacking and Marciniak was groundlessly accused and not given the opportunity to explain and defend himself.
The Polish Football Association and our referees are apolitical. We hope that UEFA will take into account the obvious facts we have outlined above in making their decision.
